Press Release
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Singapore Ship Sale Form (SSF) expands its reach with the inclusion of the form in the Charter Party Editor by SDSD
The move by Asian Shipowners’ Forum (ASF) and Singapore Maritime Foundation (SMF) is in response to industry’s feedback to make the SSF more user-friendly and accessible to the shipping community

Singapore, 24 November 2011 – The Singapore Ship Sale Form (SSF) has charted new frontiers with its latest move to incorporate a digital editable version of the form through the Charter Party Editor programme by SD Software Developers Ltd (SDSD).

The SSF was officially launched by the Singapore Maritime Foundation (SMF) on 6 January 2011 in response to the Singapore and Asian maritime community’s call for an alternative viable up-to-date sale form which caters to their needs in view of changing bank regulations and increasing maritime activities and maritime arbitration cases in Asia. With effect from 1 November 2011, SMF has given the exclusive rights to distribute the editable version of the Singapore Ship Sale Form (SSF) to Asian Shipowners’ Forum (ASF) for two years.
In its first bold attempt to market the SSF, ASF has since partnered and licensed leading maritime software and tools development and consultancy company, SDSD to distribute the form on its website, http://www.charterpartyeditor.com/ for its Charter Party Editor (CPE).
“To date, there are 61 known shipping transactions that have adopted the SSF. SSF has proven to be a viable alternative option next to other widely used forms. As the exclusive distributor of the editable version of the SSF, ASF has spearheaded this initiative to market the SSF and encourage the shipping community, both in Asia and beyond, to use this form as the preferred form of agreement. With over 800 worldwide subscribers to the Charter Party Editor, our partnership with SDSD will elevate the awareness of the SSF and make the form more readily accessible to the industry players,” said Mr Yuichi Sonoda, Secretary General, Asian Shipowners’ Forum.

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Press release
Singapore Ship Sale Form through Charter Party Editor

Many established shipbroking companies and shipping agencies are existing subscribers of SDSD’s CPE which houses a portfolio of nearly 100 available forms. Existing subscribers of the CPE can purchase the right to use the digital form of the SSF for an initial fee of 500 GBP which comes with unlimited use within the year. For the following year, instead of paying another 500 GBP, subscribers would only need to pay a small annual licence fee.

With the availability of the SSF for use on the CPE, subscribers, who are predominantly shipbrokers and their support staff, will be able to customise the form while protecting the original contract wording. The system is expected to be more cost effective for high volume users as compared to other existing charter party editor systems which charge users on a per-use basis. SDSD is currently developing a different version of the CPE that will provide short period (limited time) access to the SSF, thereby catering to the needs of low volume users. The new version of the CPE is expected to be completed in early 2012.

“As a key player in the Asian ship broker market, we are pleased with our association with the ASF. SDSD’s CPE has become the industry standard software for ship broking and other maritime companies across the globe, and is used by leading blue chip companies as well as smaller organisations. With our extensive reach and existing client base, we will push the awareness and adoption of the Singapore Ship Sale Form to a higher level”, said Mr Mogens Johansen, Head of Solutions Sales, SDSD.

Mr Michael Chia, Chairman, SMF, welcomed ASF’s recent initiative. He said, “The Singapore Ship Sale Form was created to serve the current needs of the maritime community, both in Asia and in the global shipping industry. We are happy that ASF has taken the lead to promote the use of the SSF through the partnership with SDSD. I believe that the inclusion of the editable version of the SSF on the Charter Party Editor, which our ship broking community is familiar with, will help to encourage a higher usage of the form.”

The digital editable version of the SSF will be available at http://www.charterpartyeditor.com on 24 November 2011. The PDF and word version of the original text of the SSF can still be downloaded at no cost from the official Singapore Ship Sale Form website, www.singforms.com. Those who are interested to purchase the Charter Party Editor software can contact SDSD’s Regional Sales Manager, Marcus Heng on +65 63250755 or sales@sdsd.com.

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For media queries, please contact:
Dorothy Ng Elvin Tan
Manager, Corporate Communications Executive Officer
Singapore Maritime Foundation (SMF) Asian Shipowners’ Forum (ASF)
Tel : +65 6325 0227 Tel: +65 63254737
Mobile : 9631 5500 Email: elvintan@asf.com.sg
Email : dorothy@sgmf.com.sg

About the Singapore Maritime Foundation
The Singapore Maritime Foundation (SMF) is a private sector-led organisation established in 2004 to develop and promote Singapore as an International Maritime Centre (IMC), in partnership with the government and maritime industry.

The broad objectives of the SMF are:
• To provide a forum in the private sector for exchanging, generating and developing ideas and proposals to turn Singapore into an IMC
• To act as the catalyst in fostering mutual co-operation among various sectors of the maritime industry
• To serve as the government’s partner from the private sector in promoting Singapore as an IMC and developing manpower to support the maritime industry

For details, please visit www.smf.com.sg

About the Asian Shipowners’ Forum
The Asian Shipowners’ Forum is a voluntary organisation of the shipowner associations of Australia, China, Chinese Taipei, Hong Kong, India, Japan, Korea and the Federation of ASEAN Shipowners’ Associations comprising shipping associations of ASEAN countries.

The aims of the ASF are to promote the interests of the Asian shipowning industries. Between annual ASF meetings, the ongoing work is carried out by the five Standing Committees; the Shipping Economics Review Committee, the Seafarers Committee, the Ship Recycling Committee, the Safe Navigation and Environment Committee, and the Ship Insurance and Liability Committee.

It has been estimated that ASF owners and managers control and operate nearly 50% of the world’s cargo carrying fleet.

For details, please visit http://asianshipowners.org.

About SDSD
SDSD have led the market in high volume messaging, maritime trading, vessel data analysis, business intelligence and secure charter party editor software for more than 25 years. Their solutions are used by ship brokers, owners and ship managers across the globe, who rely on the integrated systems to maintain their competitive edge.

Additionally, SDSD provide commercial and technical-operations software to the Ship Owner, Ship Manager and Ship Operator sectors under the joint venture brand SDSD-Esquire.

SDSD are the developers of ‘Matrix’ and ‘Strategic Dataworks’ software products, and has offices in London, Sofia, Athens, Singapore, Wroclaw and Houston, plus a network of partners across the globe.

For details, please visit www.sdsd.com.

At the 9th Plenary Session of the Contact Group on Piracy off the Coast of Somalia held on 14 July 2011 in New York, the ASF Secretary General was honoured to have the opportunity to share our grave concerns over the current situation.

The ASF informed the Contact Group about our disappointment at the lack of concrete action and plan by the UN or any country in making headway to eradicate this threat.

While acknowledging the need for capacity building efforts to solve the root cause of the problem which is on land, the ASF also voiced our considered opinion that governments and flag states should deploy effective counter-piracy mechanisms to mitigate the problem. This could be in a form of an UN Peacekeeping Counter Piracy Task Force that would give armed escort, protection and much needed confidence to the hundreds of ships and seafarers plying those high risk areas.

On 28 June 2010, the ASF addressed a letter to both Mr E Mitropoulos, Secretary General of IMO, and Mr Ban Ki-moon, Secretary General of UN voicing the grave concerns about the situation of piracy and ship hijacks is escalating and spreading beyond the Gulf of Aden and Somali Basin into the vast Indian Ocean.

In the letter, the ASF strongly urged the members of UN and IMO to do all they can in their power to counter the state of lawlessness restoring safety of Maritime Navigation in the Gulf of Aden and off the coast of Somalia. A list of possible actions essential for formulating a lasting solution was outlined for the consideration of UN and IMO.

On 23 June 2010, the ASF joined the coalition of organisations ranging from trade unions to shipowners’ associations and insurers to back a global e-petition aimed at pressuring governments to commit concrete actions to end maritime piracy that is placing seafarers’ lives at risk and threatening the international shipping and the world trade.

The e-petition campaign amassed almost one million signatures which were delivered to the Mr E Mitroupoulos, Secretary General of International Maritime Organisation (IMO), in London on the World Maritime Day, 23 September 2010.

This campaign prompted a response from the United Nations (UN) and Mr Ban Ki Moon, Secretary General of UN, pledging that UN would spare no efforts in tackling piracy.