Mr Arthur BOWRING has been the Managing Director of Hong Kong Shipowners Association (HKSOA) since 1997, and is a Maritime Arbitrator and Mediator. Mr Bowring started his maritime career in 1968 as a cadet seagoing officer, and has almost 50 years of extensive experience in different areas of maritime affairs. He is Chairman of the Labour Affairs Committee of the International Chamber of Shipping and Spokesman for the Maritime Employers’ Group at the International Labour Organisation. He is Council Member of the Hong Kong International Arbitration Centre, and a member of the Centre’s Panel of Arbitrators. He is Convenor of the Hong Kong Maritime Arbitration Group, and Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Shipbrokers, The Nautical Institute, the Royal Institution of Naval Architects, the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators and the Hong Kong Institute of Arbitrators. In 2014 he was awarded Lloyd’s List Asia Lifetime Achievement Award, and in 2015 he was awarded the Seatrade Maritime Asia “Contribution to the Development of the Hong Kong Maritime Cluster” award.

Mr Bowring is a member of Promotion and External Relations Committee of the Hong Kong Maritime and Port Board. He has contributed many papers to industry media, regularly spoken at international conferences, and championed many industry initiatives that have given the HKSOA a high international profile, which have made Hong Kong shipowners well-represented and visible in the world maritime community. Mr Bowring is also one of the strongest advocates of environmental responsibility of the industry, and is a staunch campaigner in minimising the environmental impact brought about by the maritime industry.

Mr Bowring is a long-standing industry partner of the VTC. He joined the Maritime Services Training Board (MSTB) in 1998 and was Vice-Chairman from 1999 to 2008. He has been appointed as Chairman of MSTB since 2011. In his role, Mr Bowring has given precious advice to the VTC on maritime services and has been very supportive in promoting VTC’s programmes and services to the industry. In 2016, facilitated by Mr Bowring, the VTC has collaborated with the Warsash Maritime Academy (WMA) of Southampton Solent University, UK, to offer top-up degree programme for VTC graduates in maritime studies, making the VTC the first institution outside the UK to enter into such collaboration with WMA.