Shipping Association of Jamaica: 75 years strong

Minister of industry, Investment and Commerce G. Anthony Hylton has commended the Shipping Association of Jamaica (SAJ) for what he called its "zealousness in ensuring the competitiveness and viability of the shipping industry".

Speaking at the SAJ's 75th anniversary church service at the Kingston Parish Church last Sunday, the minister indicated that as the Government executes its own plans for the creation of new jobs through the development of Kingston as a global logistics hub, partnership with the SAJ would take on added impetus and significance.

Hylton also highlighted the fact that the SAJ currently manages more than 500 workers at the Port of Kingston and continues to play a leading role in the modernisation of the port's and industry's information technology infrastructure. The investment minister was representing Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller at the service.

The proceedings were led by Suffragan Bishop of Kingston, the Right Reverend Dr Robert Thompson, whose sermon was fittingly delivered under the theme 'Negotiating for the Common Good' and through which he charged the SAJ to continue its steadfast and conscientious leadership in the shipping industry.

President of the SAJ, Kim Clarke and Beverley Williamson, senior vice-president at the Port Authority of Jamaica (PAJ), also brought greetings on the occasion, lauding the association's work as a principal and crucial player in the milestone developments that have taken place in Jamaica's shipping landscape.

During his address, the SAJ president spoke of the significance of the Kingston Parish Church to the association's history. "It is good that we have returned to a place which stands barely 200 yards from where many of the events of 1938 which shaped our industry and gave rise to our organisation took place. The steeple of this church stood as a beacon to ships that entered our harbour in the early years, and the church itself bore witness to many of the events that helped to shape our future as an organisation," Clarke said.

congrats to worker of the year

Clarke also used the platform to congratulate SAJ employee Newton Brown, who had been selected as Worker of the Year for 2013. "We are proud of our service to the country and we are proud of the service our workers provide to the shipping industry," he added.

Beverley Williamson cited the SAJ's solid partnership with the PAJ as a relationship of which both parties can be proud. She highlighted the association's daily involvement in the supply and management of port labour; its efficient dissemination of information; sensitisation of the industry through its public relations efforts; its flagship 'lunch and learn' sessions; and the services it provides through its IT subsidiary. She said that these were symbolic of the SAJ's commitment to playing a developmental and unique role in the shipping industry.

Born out of the industrial unrest of the late 1930s, the SAJ has developed as a body that has brought stability to labour relations in the Port of Kingston. It continues to live up to the vision of its founders and has also emerged as a beacon of excellence for several industry and national associations, which have followed its development.

The SAJ's purpose, as crafted back in 1939, was to establish uniformity in the rates of remuneration of labour for port work; to ensure the payment of fair and reasonable rates; and to improve the conditions of employment during a period when the Port of Kingston was plagued by demonstrations and disruption of business as workers bemoaned low wages and what they deemed unfair working conditions.

Seventy-five years after its registration on January 27, 1939, the SAJ has broadened its outlook and adopted a more proactive and involved vision that seeks to "provide innovative services and support for members and the wider Jamaican community; to underpin continuous port development, and facilitate expansion of national trade while positioning the Port of Kingston among the top 10 world transhipment ports".

commemorative activities

The anniversary church service kicks off a series of commemorative activities to be staged by the SAJ throughout the year, including a banquet during Maritime Week in September and a 5K Charity Run/Walk in June.

Among the attendees at the service were Commissioner of Customs Major Richard Reese; vice president of the Bustamante Industrial Trade Union, Alvin Sinclair; executive director of the Caribbean Maritime Institute, Dr Fritz Pinnock; chairman of the Joint Industrial Council for the Port of Kingston, Condell Stephenson; maritime attorney, Christopher Kelman; employee relations manager - KCT Services Ltd, Val Meeks; representative of the SAJ panel of doctors, Dr Dilini Desilva-Chen, as well as members of the SAJ, representatives of its managing committee, management, and staff.