FIRST AGM
THE CSA’S MOMENTOUS BIRTH YEAR
I
t may not have quite matched the drama of the first moon landing in 1969, but it was still a momentous year and certainly one to remember. The Brazilian National Soccer Team – containing Pelé, Jairzinho, Carlos Alberto and Rivellino – beat Italy 4-1 in the greatest World Cup final ever played; soon to cease production, the Boeing 747 entered service for the first time and the aborted Apollo 13 moon mission held the rapt attention of the entire planet. This then was 1970. But for just a few, something happened in mid-Atlantic Bermuda in 1970 that probably eclipsed all of those historic events. This was the inaugural meeting of the Caribbean
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Looking back to 1970
Shipping Association (CSA). Many years have passed since the CSA was formed and most of those involved in the Association’s creation are sadly no longer with us and so some of the recollections of that historic gathering are now a bit hazy.
GATHERING Luckily and thanks to former CSA General Manager Stephen Bell, Caribbean Maritime has tracked down someone who did attend that first gathering in 1970 – Stephen’s father Robert. He still vividly recalls much of what took place 50 years ago and its importance for the region’s maritime sector. Planning to set up an Association is
one thing, actually getting an organization off the ground is quite another. And it’s here that Robert gives full credit to the undoubted energies of Peter Evelyn (see page 20) who later become chairman of the Shipping Association of Jamaica and first president of the CSA. Peter sadly died in 2007. Robert recalls: “Peter Evelyn was the conceptualizer. Working with him were Noel Hylton (later Chief Executive of the Port Authority of Jamaica 1975-2003), Michael Blackman (elected vice president) from Trinidad and Tobago, Roy Mendes from Antigua and myself. There was also a lady who was present who recorded all the notes
