TSA overhauls leadership

TSA overhauls leadership    The Transpacific Stabilization Agreement, a steamship line conference of 11 major carriers, on Monday said it has created a four-member executive committee to run the organization as outgoing Executive Director Albert A. Pierce retires at the end of the year.
   The TSA, which formed 17 years ago, will be led by chief executive officers from four of its member carriers: American President Line, Evergreen Marine Corp., Hanjin Shipping Co. Ltd., and NYK Line.
   Beginning Dec. 1, Ron Widdows, CEO of Singapore-based APL, will serve as executive committee chairman for the next year.
   'We need new energy, new ideas and a new commitment if we're going to meet the needs of shippers in the world's most dynamic trade lane,' Widdows said in a statement. 'By placing control of TSA directly into the hands of its members, we can be more responsive than ever to those needs.'
   The newly created executive committee will be responsible for establishing policy, formulating and implementing the group's business objectives, research activities and communicating with customers, government regulatory agencies and the shipping public.
   'As world trade rises, demand continues to increase in this market,' Widdows said. 'The result is congestion and stress on an infrastructure that is already operating at near capacity. Carriers and shippers will face many challenges and we have to be smarter at working together. This new management structure puts us in a much better position to respond to changing market conditions, customer needs, as well as the needs of the carriers.'
   Pierce, who has led the TSA since 1999, was 'instrumental in helping TSA move beyond the earlier system of rate conferences to individual, confidential service contracting after passage of the U.S. Ocean Shipping Reform Act of 1998,' the organization said in a statement.
   'Al has served the industry well for many years,' Evergreen CEO Arnold Wang said.
   Brian M. Conrad, deputy executive director, will remain in charge of administrative functions for TSA as president of Transpacific Carrier Services, the non-profit affiliate company providing administrative services to TSA and three similar agreements.