IBIA Seeks Member Donations to Fill Covid Funding Gap

IBIA is seeking member donations. File Image / Pixabay

The International Bunker Industry Association (IBIA) Thursday launched a "Support IBIA Campaign" to help raise funding lost due to restrictions imposed by Covid-19.

"As a principle, IBIA has always ensured a low membership fee and balanced the cost of running the association by organizing events that support our ambition of being the place where the industry players meet up, and enable us to represent the industry effectively at the IMO and elsewhere," IBIA said in a note to members.

"Covid-19 has challenged this concept as we have not been able to host any physical events since February 2020, and we cannot do so until we are confident that it is safe."

IBIA confirmed that this meant its Annual Dinner has been cancelled for 2021. Traditionally held on the Monday of IP Week, the dinner is one of IBIA's main events and one of the highlights of the bunker industry event calendar that attracts over 1000 participants.

"This leaves IBIA in a challenged position as we depend on revenues from our events to run the Association," IBIA said.

"We expect that a minimum of GBP 100,000 will be lost in the 2020/2021 financial year due to restrictions imposed by Covid-19. That is a large amount for any organization, and we need your support and assistance to cope with this challenge."

Several members - KPI OceanConnect, Fratelli Cosulich, BMS United, Energy Petrol, A/S Dan-Bunkering Ltd, Glander International Bunkering, Monjasa A/S, Maersk Oil Trading Ltd and Bunker One A/S - have already collectively contributed over £40,000, IBIA noted.

"However, we still need your support to reach our target of GBP 100,000 to replace our losses," it said.

"We therefore kindly ask and encourage you to support IBIA in any way possible. Any assistance you can offer counts and will be much appreciated, and we kindly ask our members to donate any amount they can allocate to support IBIA during this challenging time."

Suggestions for a donation include "an amount equal to the savings you make by not sustaining any travel and hotel costs to attend your favourite IBIA events, or any other donation that you would find appropriate."

Looking further ahead, IBIA said it was also working on changes to become less dependent on its events as a way to subsidize its running costs.