In the friendly and inclusive environment, the captains of Odessa were sharing their memories about the past, were speaking about the present, and were planning the future.

The Odessa Shipmasters Association (OSMA) was established on March 24, 1989. It was launched by the captains of the Black Sea Shipping Company as a public organization to unite the sea captains on the voluntary basis regardless of the industry they were involved in.
The first ever OSMA President was Kim Golubenko, the deep sea captain, the Hero of the Socialist Labour. OSMA governing body is the Board comprising 20 captains, whose responsibilities are provided by the OSMA Charter. The Association’s chief task is to unite the captains’ efforts for improving the level of safety at sea, promoting captains’ proficiency and occupational prestige, protecting their honour and dignity, enhancing their influence on the general safety performance in shipping.

The Odessa Shipmasters Association currently brings together over 700 experienced deep sea captains who have wide experience in being in charge of different types of vessels. One of the Association’s major issues of concern is the professional support and protection of captains’ interests.
OSMA activities, based on faithful impartial examination of the accidents and professional evaluation of captains’ actions, helped many to avoid administrative or even criminal sanctions. Other OSMA’s pressing issues are associated with maritime training, crewing, re-arrangement of marine transport management, revision of the Merchant Shipping Code of Ukraine, criminalization of the profession of the seafarer.
OSMA is an associated member at the International Federation of Shipmasters’ Associations (IFSMA) and is in the continual contact with other Associations of Captains in Ukraine, in the CIS countries, and in other countries.
Some OSMA members are individual IFSMA members and are registered there as technical consultants and maritime experts. Many OSMA members are also the members of the Nautical Institute of Ukraine (NIU) – the branch of the Nautical Institute.
OSMA member-captains take part in the activities of International Maritime Organization as a part of the Ukrainian delegation. OSMA was one of the initiators and founders of UKRMEPA – “Ukrainian Marine Environment Protection Association” (General Secretary – prof. V.G. Torskiy, FNI the Honorary OSMA member). OSMA plays an active role in the Ukrainian maritime community; it has wide connections with maritime educational establishments and maritime industry institutions.
The Association’s motto – “Unity for Safety at Sea” – accompanies all its activities which are aimed at legal protection and support of the captains, as well as at joining the efforts of the maritime organizations to solve the problems of navigation safety and to create and organize the country’s maritime policy for promoting safety at sea.
Today, the President of the Odessa Shipmasters Association is the deep-sea captain S.Ya. Nezavitin, AFNI.
Vladimir Torskiy, FNI the NIU Honorary Secretary and OSMA Honorary member,
Captain Andrey Boiko, MNI OSMA Board member and NUI Committee member