Director of BD, MTIC – Yangtze Delta
James Liao, as a shipyard engineer, has complete project experience, involved in design, construction, commissioning and management of new-building ships. Based on the expertise, he, as an investor, is supporting innovative projects that promote the progresses of intelligentization and cleansing, including decarbonization, for both the shipyards and the ships.
James Liao gained his MSc in Maritime Safety & Environment Management from World Maritime University, Sweden, and BEng in Ship-building & Offshore Engineering from Dalian Maritime University.
Director, Business Development and Strategy, SCS Global Services
Robert Earley is the Director of Business Development and Strategy (China) for SCS Global Services. Robert is a trained environmental scientist and planner with degrees from the University of Calgary and University of Waterloo in Canada. Having lived in China since 2004, he has served in multiple policy research roles in the areas of sustainable fuels and clean freight and logistics in Asia since 2008, performed as an auditor of sustainable fuels and chemicals since 2017 and has managed auditing services globally and in China since 2020.
Representative ACT commodities
Representative ACT China Environmental Commodities Trading Manager, B.A. in Communication and M.A. in Management, Huazhong University of Science and Technology. As an expert in the development of Green Certificates of Entitlement (GCEs), ACT has guided new energy projects through the entire process of green power development and trading in the International Mechanism (I-REC) and the China Mechanism (GEC), and has successfully developed projects with a total installed capacity of more than 3GW, with services to clients including the five major and six minor power generation groups, as well as local energy organizations.
She is deeply involved in the global carbon mandatory and voluntary markets, has conducted in-depth research on EU decarbonization policies, assisted domestic shipowners in opening accounts and constructing quota purchasing strategies, and has rich hands-on experience in realizing the maximization of environmental and economic effects of project owners through professional consulting solutions.
Shipping Solution Specialist, S&P Global
Yvette Zhang Shipping subject matter expert within S&P Global Commodity Insights looking after APAC markets, supporting clients in navigating value from shipping intelligence. Yingzhi has 10+ years’ experience in shipping and supply chain, starting with logistics and procurement roles in FMCG industry where she had been involved in a full lifecycle of ERP implementation as process lead, later she has specialised in shipping and trade digitisation. Yingzhi has also worked in maritime advisory services taking up several shipping and port consultancy projects. Joined IHS Markit (now part of S&P Global) in 2020, she works as l subject matter expert supporting on various maritime, trade and supply chain solutions in risk and compliance, commodity insights and data driven intelligence.
Yvette holds a MSc degree in Operations, Projects and Supply Chain Management from the University of Manchester, and graduated from Shanghai Jiaotong University with a BEng in Transportation – International Shipping and BSc in International Economics and Trade.
Representative of UK P&I Club, Shanghai
A graduate in English and International Relations, James initial career was with a major Chinese shipowner serving in both China and the UK. Having acquired an MBA at Cranfield he was head of strategic planning before joining the Hong Kong office of a European container operator as business development director. Joining in 2012 from an investment group, James brings more than 20 years shipping experience to the team.
Henry was the former Head of Chartering and Raw Materials of ArcelorMittal Shipping in London, one of the largest shipping charterers in the world. With almost 20 years of experience in Drybulk Shipping both shore-based and at sea, he worked as shipping principal, broker and deck-officer as well. Henry has a MSc in Maritime Operations and Management at City University of London, and he was one of the earliest co-founders of CSAL and current CSAL committee member.
Join our community today and help shape the future of global shipping!
Zhang Yun is the Managing Director of EGPN Bulk Carrier Ltd, a UK and Hong Kong based Chinese ship owner, who has more than 25 years of work experience in dry bulk ship chartering , sales and purchase. EGPN now owns a fleet of 27 vessels and is still expanding in the field of dry bulk carriers and tankers.
Director of Sinotrans UK, Hu Wei has worked in the shipping industry for more than 30 years. He started dry bulk ship chartering in Sinochart Beijing in the early 90’s and came to work in London as the Chief Representative of Sinotrans Group in U.K. in 1999. He handled iron ore import shipments to China from India, nickel ore from Philippines and Indonesia to China and has gained great experience in the field of dry bulk shipping. He is now mainly concentrated in the sea freight and air freight business.
Formerly at the Baltic Exchange and TradeWinds, Eli has been involved in organising events and producing marketing content in the maritime industry for almost 15 years.
At TradeWinds, she was part of the team that produced the first Shipowners Forum in 2011 and also provided creative direction for general marketing such as TradeWinds’ 25th Anniversary activities. Later, she took on an editorial role as Art Director for the quarterly magazine TW+.
At the Baltic Exchange, Eli’s responsibilities in marketing was during the time of ownership transition while organising up to 30 global events annually and hosting delegations.
Eli has completed a shipping economics course and took advantage of the exposure to freight derivatives to increase her knowledge.
Since the early days of CSAL, Eli took charge of marketing and event management for the association’s launch.
Lianghui Xia has 20 years of experience in commercial roles across prominent shipowners and shipbroking firms in Oslo, Copenhagen, and Shanghai, including Maersk Tankers, RS Platou, Lorentzen & Stemoco, and Optima Shipbrokers. Xia boasts expertise in asset management, sales and purchase (S&P), newbuilding, and chartering projects. Holding an MSc degree in Marketing from Norwegian Business School BI, Xia joined Newport Shipping UK in April 2018 to lead sales processes. He also serves as Board Member of Sea-LNG, further underlining his commitment to the maritime industry.
Nicholas is a Partner in Birketts’ Shipping and International Trade Team and an accredited CEDR (Council of Effective Dispute Resolution) Mediator.
Nicholas grew up in Singapore, obtained his LLB in England and was called to the Bar here in 1986. He qualified in Singapore as an Advocate and Solicitor the following year and practised in Singapore as a shipping litigator for five years. He then moved in-house working for a COSCO Singapore subsidiary where he gained valuable commercial experience. London beckoned and Nicholas qualified as an English solicitor in 1996. He was made a Partner in 2001, the first ethnic Chinese to be appointed as a partner in a major shipping law firm in London. Nicholas retired as Head of Birketts’ Shipping and International Trade Team in 2020. He has helped it grow from two fee-earners when he joined in 2004 to eleven fee-earners today.
Nicholas is a specialist in all areas of ‘dry’ shipping litigation with particular knowledge of shipping in Singapore, Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong and China. He also has some contacts with the Indian and Japanese shipping industry. He makes regular visits to these countries every year. Working for COSCO Shipping and spending many years representing other Chinese clients has helped Nicholas develop his ability to take instructions, give advice and lecture on English shipping law in fluent Mandarin.
Nicholas is based at Birketts’ Ipswich office.