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The International Maritime Organization Council on July 18 elected Arsenio Antonio Dominguez Velasco from Panama as successor to Kitack Lim
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Dominguez will assume the IMO leadership on January 1, 2024
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A director of the IMO’s marine environment division for over six years, Dominguez beat six other candidates for the position
The International Maritime Organization (IMO) Council has elected Arsenio Antonio Dominguez Velasco from Panama as its next secretary-general.
His four-year term, subject to approval of the IMO Assembly, will begin on January 1, 2024.
The 52-year-old will replace Korea’s Kitack Lim, who has been at the helm for two terms.
He will take over the IMO leadership as the shipping industry faces challenges including pressures to speed up decarbonization. This early, he has hinted he will get his own way to deliver results from the first day.
“I’m not afraid of disturbing things a little bit to actually get change,” he was quoted by Lloyd’s List as saying in an interview immediately after his election.
The UN shipping agency said that Dominguez beat six other contenders from China, Turkey, Kenya, Finland, Dominica and Bangladesh in a vote on July 18.
Three female candidates, Cleopatra Doumbia-Henry from Dominica, Nancy Karigithu from Kenya, and Minna Kivimäki from Finland, were eliminated in the first, second and final rounds respectively.
A seventh candidate, Moin Ahmed from Bangladesh, withdrew in the opening moments of the council vote Tuesday morning.
Dominguez has served as director of the IMO’s marine environment division for just over six years and was previously Panama’s IMO representative. He also served with Panama’s maritime authority.
Guy Platten, secretary-general of the International Chamber of Shipping, was quoted by Reuters as saying heading the IMO is not an easy job.
“There are undoubtedly challenges ahead as the industry strives to meet the 2030, 2040 and 2050 targets”, Platten said, adding that Dominguez “will lead with equal measures of authority, purpose and compassion”.
Before the vote, Dominguez told delegates that he was “ready to start delivering from day one” and “in me you are voting for the right secretary-general for right now”.
Panama secured 11 votes in the first round and Turkey had 10 votes from the 40-member IMO Council, with Dominica’s Doumbia-Henry eliminated.
In the second round, Dominguez picked up Dominica’s three votes and another from Kenya to secure 15. Karigithu was eliminated with four votes.
Kenya’s votes were then split between Panama and Finland, and China’s Zhang Xiaojie, with five votes, was removed in the third round.
The final vote was Dominguez with 21, Türkiye’s candidate with 11, and Finland with eight.
Dominguez, a holder of a naval architecture degree, initially worked in a ship repair yard in Panama. He has been at the IMO secretariat for more than a decade. He moved to London in 1998 and represented his country at the IMO, in addition to working for a division of the Panama Maritime Authority.
Dominguez said after the voting that coming from a country with the world’s largest flag registry was one of the weaknesses of his campaign, Lloyd’s List reported.
“The constant comments and criticisms were that IMO has too much influence from the industry,” the shipping and trade newspaper quoted Dominguez as saying. “I always worked on reiterating (during) my campaign my impartiality and transparency.”
