Well-known Zhang Xiajojie has run a low-key public campaign for the position of secretary general but the former head of delegation for China at the International Maritime Organisation is confident he is in with a decent chance.

He began his career in the Ministry of Transport in 1994 and has travelled as part of the Chinese IMO delegation to London for 30 years, he told Lloyd’s List.

In 2017 he was elected as chair of the IMO council. At the beginning of 2020, Xiajojie left Beijing and moved to London to take up the job as director of the secretariat’s technical cooperation division.

China was a last-minute surprise entrant into the secretary general race, waiting right until the deadline to reveal their nomination, a decision which may split the vote between some countries who may have previously supported others from developing countries.

The candidates are: Bangladesh (Moin Uddin Ahmed), China (Zhang Xiajojie), Dominica (Dr Cleopatra Doumbia-Henry), Finland (Minna Kivimäki), Kenya (Nancy Karigithu), Panama (Arsenio Dominguez) and Türkiye (Suat Hayri Aka) all put forward their nominations for the position, which for the first time includes three women.

The secretary-general will not only set the tone at the secretariat, but as the public face of the IMO, must bridge divisions and steer a course that will keep the IMO relevant and respected.

As most secretary-generals are re-elected for a second term, the successful candidate will take the IMO through key climate change regulations in shipping and other challenges, such as autonomous shipping, a looming seafarer shortfall, as well as digitalisation and other internal reorganisations.