EMEA News
IE WEEK: IBIA Marks 30th Anniversary as Annual Dinner Capacity Returns to Over 1,000
Bunker industry body IBIA celebrated its 30th anniversary on Monday night with its annual dinner returning to a total of more than 1,000 guests for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic.
The organisation's annual dinner saw just over 1,000 guests attend, IBIA sources told Ship & Bunker. The party, at the start of the IE Week set of energy industry events in London, was moved to the Park Plaza hotel in Waterloo this year.
The event is one of the biggest in the bunker industry's calendar, but has not been held at this full scale since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. 2021's dinner was cancelled amid travel restrictions, and last year's was kept to a smaller capacity of about 600 guests.
"2022 was a good year for IBIA," Tim Cosulich, the organisation's chairman, said in a speech at the event.
"We ran successful events in Istanbul, Malta and Houston, we conducted online members' meetings and countless training sessions, and our global and regional board meetings were well-attended and always provided for a very lively and constructive debate.
"Finally, our participation and active contribution at IMO meetings was openly appreciated by a number of industry players and international organisations."
IBIA Director Unni Einemo reflected on the organisation's upcoming 30th anniversary in her speech. The organisation was founded in May 1993.
"Over the next 30 years, as the energy transition gathers pace, the types of activities and challenges faced by our members will evolve, and so will IBIA," she said.
"Shipping has always been crucial to trade, and takes price in being the engine of global trade.
"As we celebrate IBIA's first 30 years, we can take pride in the fact that IBIA and our members are, directly or indirectly, fuelling the engines of global trade, and will continue to do so in the future."
