Press Releases

The International Institute of Marine Surveying (IIMS) has released details of a poll undertaken in the past week amongst its Australian members, which reveals serious concerns in the industry about the operation of the new national system for commercial vessel safety introduced by the Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) on 1 July 2018.

The survey of 60 local IIMS members found that over half of respondents believe the new system will result in vessels being less safe to operate; 29% said they will be far less safe. Nearly two-thirds of respondents (64%) said they found it either difficult or very difficult to access information, understand legislative requirements and get decisions from AMSA, while 79% said that AMSA did not listen to surveyors, or takes their views into account when formulating policy and systems. Read the press release in full: IIMS survey on Australian national vessel safety scheme changes

Most professions and activities recognise their own special international days to create awareness. Three such examples are World Radio Day, World Puppetry Day and International Firefighters’ Day. IIMS thought it was high time that marine surveyors have their own day – a day that celebrates their work and profession and brings them together, albeit in an online capacity.

So, IIMS has created the Marine Surveying International Fest 2018, a 24-hour celebration of marine surveying. The date for this innovative and eye-catching event is Wednesday 12 into Thursday 13 September, depending on your time zone! View full press release.

Pause for a moment and ponder this question. How much is your life and your safety at sea worth? Most people would say it is priceless and impossible to put a value on. And yet many people seem to misunderstand the worth, value and principle role of a marine surveyor, whose very job it is to ensure your safety at sea by surveying, inspecting and reporting on your expensive, potential new purchase. Instructing a marine surveyor to work on your behalf should never be seen as a distress purchase where price is the all-important factor. View full press release

Fifteen years after launch, the International Institute of Marine Surveying (IIMS) distance learning commercial ship and yacht and small craft professional qualifications were recently nominated for an Award in the International Maritime Club’s Golden Shield Excellence Awards 2017 in the ‘Leading Maritime Training Institute’ category. And at the ceremony on Friday 15 September 2017 at the Lloyd’s Old Library in London, IIMS was announced as the winner in this category. View full press release.

Launched by the International Institute of Marine Surveying’s (IIMS) subsidiary, the Marine
Surveying Academy (MSA), on behalf of the International Marine Contractors Association (IMCA) in
June 2015, the eCMID Accredited Vessel Inspector (AVI) scheme has reached the milestone of 300
successful accreditations. View full press release.

IIMS has released three new handy guides for sale on the subject of insurance damage surveys. The
series of ‘What a marine surveyor needs to know about’ now boasts sixteen titles in total following
the launch of these new handy guides, all of which have been written by the doyen of marine
surveyors, Capt Barry Thompson. View full press release.

Launched in February 2017, the IIMS Continuing Professional Development (CPD) App has just notched up its 1,000th claim for points from its members. Over 300 individuals have used the CPD App since its inception with more than 100 IIMS members having now accrued their required 10 points for the year to keep them compliant. View full press release.

The International Institute of Marine Surveying (IIMS) has launched a new App that has been designed specifically to help members maintain their Continuing Professional Development (CPD) points in a simple, yet efficient fashion.
The new App was launched on 1 February 2017. Version two is already under development and will be released soon to include some enhancements. View full press release.

Seawork 2014 saw the issue of an updated UK Workboat (Brown) Code following comprehensive updating by an industry technical working group (TWG) over a long period of time, supported by the UK Maritime & Coastguard Agency (MCA). Further detailed work has been carried out by the TWG since then and the official launching of the Workboat Code Edition 2 is expected shortly. View full press release.

To celebrate the 25th Anniversary of the International Institute of Marine Surveying (IIMS), nine awards categories were created to represent excellence in marine surveying in various disciplines. The deadline for nominations was 30 June. Following a meeting of the judging panel on 12 July, the nominations have been whittled down to a list of finalists. View full press release.

The International Institute of Marine Surveying (IIMS) celebrates its 25th anniversary this year having been founded in 1991. From humble beginnings, the organisation has grown steadily to become the leading, worldwide body for professional marine surveyors of all disciplines and is now respected as such globally. The Institute boasts one thousand members in nearly one hundred countries. IIMS is increasingly passionate about educating surveyors and increasing standards throughout the profession. View full press release.

Recently the IIMS was notified by Pearson Edexcel, the external awarding body of the current IIMS HNC and HND in marine surveying qualifications, that they intended to stop supporting specialist, customised course providers such as ours. We were not alone in receiving this startling news, taken by Pearson for reasons known only to them. The final intake for students wishing to gain an HNC/HND is mid October. The scheme will then close for new student registrations, but will remain open for those already registered to complete their studies by 31 October 2018. View full press release.