The Maritime Law Association of South Africa held its 2022 Conference and Annual General Meeting over the weekend of 19 August 2022 to 21 August 2022. The conference and AGM were hosted at the Arabella Hotel, Golf & Spa in Hermanus, Western Cape. The theme of the conference was “Reinventing the Art of War: Sanctions, Security, Law and Policy”. The conference was well-attended with over 60 members from across the industry present. This was the first in-person conference since the start of the COVID-19 lockdowns, which was refreshing after having had our last 3 conferences online, via Microsoft Teams.
We are indebted to the Honourable Judge Malcolm Wallis for presenting the opening address at the conference. The MLASA is very grateful to Judge Wallis for his continued contributions to the MLA and involvement in our conferences, meetings and chapter events.
The conference agenda (below) was packed with informative and topical presentations by respected speakers from all over the world. A special thanks to all of our international speakers:
The Honourable Justice Angus Stewart, Federal Australian Judge
Julian Clarke, Global Senior Partner at Ince, UK
Michelle Linderman, Partner at Crowell & Moring LLP, UK
Harmen Hoek, owner of Hoek ten Katen, Netherlands
Captain Ken Ellam, Solis Marine, Singapore
Thank you also to Captain Nicholas Sloane, our proudly South African salvage master par excellence, founder of FNI and President of the International Salvage Union. We were privileged to have Captain Sloane take time out of his busy global schedule to present at our conference, always a fun and educational affair.
We would like to thank Mr Dumisani Ntuli, Chief Director of Maritime Transport Policy and Legislation at the Department of Transport as well as Mr Vusi September, Executive: Corporate Affairs at SAMSA for their contributions as presenters at the conference. Their valuable insights into the work of the Department of Transport and SAMSA is an important aspect to our conferences and key to maintaining the cohesion between the legal fraternity and legislative and policy organisations within government. Aside from this, it is always a pleasure to host members of SAMSA and the DOT and to get to know one another. Mr Ntuli is a stalwart attendee at the conference and his contributions and engagements over many years is always a conference highlight.
During the course of the conference and, in a slightly different format than years gone by, the Steven Wallace Maritime Trust Auction was hosted by way of a silent auction. A big thank you to the Firms, individuals and businesses for providing the Steven Wallace Maritime Trust with auction items. These firms, individuals and businesses include Cox Yeats, Webber Wentzel, ENS, Captain Guy Barker, Solution Strategists, Bowmans, Clyde & Co and Arabella Hotel courtesy of Tsogo Sun. Successful bidders were announced at the Saturday night gala dinner, at which a last-minute auction item of homemade marmalade and curd, donated by Captain Barker was sold for a smart sum of R5,000.00 thanks to the gallant efforts of our outgoing president Lerato Maboea, who seems to have harboured a secret skill as an auctioneer. Well done, Lerato! The total amount raised was R44,
500.00. Please visit our website to read more about the work of the Steven Wallace Maritime Trust.
The AGM took place on Sunday, 21 August 2022. Unfortunately, the AGM was not particularly well- attended, possibly due to the festivities the night before. Thanks do go to those members who did attend in person and to those who provided proxies in order that the Executive’s business could be progressed.
All members of the National Executive of the MLASA had completed their terms of office. Save for the office of the President and Vice President, all executive members were eligible to stand for re- election in their previous positions. The new executive committee comprises:
Lisa Mills | President | Advocate, Durban Bar |
Andre October | Vice President | Webber Wentzel |
Cape Town Chapter Chair | ||
Tamryn Simpson | Treasurer | Cox Yeats |
Sharmila Naidoo | Secretary | Webber Wentzel |
Anisa Govender | Executive Member | Livingston Leandy |
Durban Chapter Chair | ||
Bibi Aisha Motala | Executive Member | ENS |
Carol Holness | Executive Member | Norton Rose Fulbright |
Dusty Donnelly | Executive Member | Lecturer, UKZN |
Jabu Thobela-Mkhulisi | Executive Member | Advocate, Durban Bar |
Peter Lamb | Executive Member | Norton Rose Fulbright |
Malcolm Hartwell | Ex Officio | Norton Rose Fulbright |
The incoming executive committee gives thanks to outgoing president Lerato Maboea for her time and leadership during her presidency of the MLASA. Lerato has expressed a keen interest to remain involved in the MLASA transformation subcommittee and other important transformation initiatives of the MLASA. Thank you Lerato!
Two further key National MLASA initiatives were discussed.
Most members will have by now seen the new look and feel of the National MLASA website. The executive committee is grateful to Peter Edwards and Leigh Edwards, for their service in maintaining he previous MLASA website. Much of the content contained in the “new look and feel” has been retained and new content and resources are being updated. We recommend to members to take some time to navigate the new website and to provide the website committee with any suggestions and input that you may have. The website committee is looking for any historical resources and new resources to add to its database. These can be anything from judgments, articles or news. Any and all members are permitted to post articles that they have written or judgments that they have been involved in in order to build up this database. The website committee is headed by Tamryn Simpson at Cox Yeats.
The second initiative is the reconstitution of the MLASA subcommittees. A number of the subcommittees have become redundant over the years or have members who have moved on or no longer want to be involved. Peter Lamb at Norton Rose Fulbright is running this initiative and will be in contact with erstwhile subcommittee chairs and members, as well as the broader membership, to address the appoint of new members to these subcommittees. The subcommittees are listed on the website. If you would like to become involved in one or more, please contact Peter Lamb.
The minutes of the AGM will be posted in due course. Watch this space!
MLASA Conference and AGM Programme 2022