Midsummer madness

Life at IIMS is always challenging. Trying to keep nearly 1,000 members, who work in every conceivable area of marine surveying in its broadest sense, content is never a simple task. So I have been particularly pleased to have heard from a large number of members on three counts in the past month. Firstly, I am grateful that members took the opportunity to write and tell me what a great edition number 80 of The Report magazine was. Indeed some said the best they had ever read. I cannot disagree. It was, in my opinion, a comprehensive publication touching many areas of your profession. If you have not read it, I encourage you to do so by clicking this link.

The second cause for member reaction followed the launch of Version II of the IIMS CPD App. A small handful of members have reported one or two issues with the iOS version, so if you are having problems, please let head office know. But putting that aside, a good number of members have written to say how much they appreciate this development to what was an age old problem.

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More herrings than you can throw a fish at

Sometimes in my role as CEO, I find myself in the unlikeliest of places doing the strangest things. This was true just a couple of week ago and I am grateful to IIMS member, Jacek Goszczynski, who is based in Poland for inviting me to visit Szczecin to participate in the annual ‘Herring Gathering’. This event attracts over 2,000 people for an evening of celebration in the city of Szczecin in the north of the country. I found myself interacting with shipowners, hull insurance brokers, underwriters, educationalists and London P&I Club representatives. What a night and of course all in celebration of the humble herring – indeed I have never seen so many herrings in one place before, but I have acquired the taste.

Planning has been the name of the game recently at IIMS. We have a Large Yacht & Small Craft Super Training day coming up in November and the final finishing touches are being put to that. But more of that in the coming weeks. I am thrilled to announce that we have arranged a three day seminar in Singapore and I very much look forward to welcoming members, eCMID accredited vessel inspectors and anyone involved in the marine sector who would like to participate from 31 July to 2 August. We have a cracking couple of days lined up. For full details click here.

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The month of April yields brighter skies and new optimism

As we emerge from winter and go full into Spring in the UK, I become fully energised at this time and the passing of the years does not diminish this. As we emerge from the gloom of winter, the weather improves, daylight hours get longer, I can cycle in the late evening sunshine and my life changes with the changing seasons.

Setting this new found optimism against a darkening international political backdrop slightly takes the edge off things for sure. These are worrying times. We are all watching what is happening in the world closely I am sure. It leads me to question if there are implications for the marine surveying sector specifically? I suspect not however.  Many surveyors already work in highly dangerous locations across the world and in difficult circumstances too, performing their important and challenging roles. But if I have one message it is to be safe in your work and to ensure you risk assess carefully.

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The year has started with a bang!

Already we are one month down in 2017 and things are busy at IIMS head quarters! The first few weeks have seen so much activity. Camella Robertson has joined to replace the soon to retire Jan Cox as Membership Secretary. Cam to her friends is settling in well at what is a busy time of the year for membership.

Already we have delivered two great, well attended training events. I relish the opportunity to get out and meet members, but equally non-members to talk about the work we are doing at IIMS and in particular the resources that are available to surveyors of all persuasions. Ultimately it is about helping great surveyors to become even greater by sharing all this mine of knowledge and expertise.

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Eight months to prepare, two days to deliver

Never before have I been dwarfed by two such menacing looking pirates!
Never before have I been dwarfed by two such menacing looking pirates!

It is hard to know where to begin as the dust starts to slowly settle on the IIMS 25th Anniversary Conference and AGM. I am sure I speak on behalf of my colleagues at head office, as well as myself, when I say how humbled we are by some of the kind comments people have made about the past couple of days.

The issue is that over eight months one gets far too close to these things and it is hard to see the wood from the trees. It is all about meticulous planning and envisaging the outcome of course. But ultimately it falls to others, the participants and delegates, to provide true feedback – and they have in the dozens and I am most grateful. If I sound emotional, then it is because I am. My colleagues and I put everything we had into organising this conference and I truly believe it was a fitting occasion to celebrate our silver jubilee.

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25th Anniversary Conference and AGM are upon on

August is generally the time for holidays in the UK; but not this year! My colleagues and I are exceedingly busy preparing for the forthcoming 25th Anniversary Conference at London on 31 August and 1 September, which at the time of writing is just 21 days away. By the way, you can book right up until a couple of days before the event. As our slogan for the event says, three iconic venues, one great Conference – and the event is relevant to both small craft as well as commercial surveyors. I had the pleasure of visiting all three venues last week to check and make the final arrangements and I was reminded of the sense of history each of these three venues provides and am delighted with the original choices. Those who choose to attend the various events are in for an interesting and full on couple of days with some great networking opportunities too. Videos will be released after the event of the presentations.

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Brexit, Seawork and all that

To say the last couple of weeks have been interesting and eventful would be an understatement to say the least.

Let me deal with the Brexit issue, as I have been repeatedly asked what it means for UK surveyors in particular in the past few days. The simple truth s that there is nothing or IIMS can say other than we will monitor as things develop in  the coming months. Until a new Prime Minister is elected it is impossible to know what the time frame for departure from the EU will be. But it seems clear that nothing will happen of note that will impact on surveyors probably for a couple of years.

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Modern ‘boat yards’ have moved on

Something very special took place last week. Like many millions of people in the UK, I grew up with deep respect for the RNLI, the world renowned, charitable organisation that keeps the coast of this country safe and saves the lives of those who get into trouble at sea. The brave and exceptional work they do through volunteers who crew their fleet is legendary.

So having admired the work of the RNLI it was rather humbling to be able to take a group of nearly 30 IIMS members to visit their head office and build/refit facility at Continue reading “Modern ‘boat yards’ have moved on”

Nearly half way through the year

Just a photo I managed to take of a Le Havre pilot boat following beside the ferry I was on recently on a sunny evening
Just a photo I managed to take of a Le Havre pilot boat following beside the ferry I was on recently on a sunny evening

So as we approach the mid point of 2015 – time for an update?

There are a number of activities that I would like to touch on in this blog. In particular, I am proud of the work we have done recently with IMCA to bring the ‘world class’ CMID accreditation scheme successfully to market from 1 June. We now have our first two accredited CMID vessel inspectors with a further forty or so in the pipeline. It is a progressive and encouraging start.

It was exciting to reveal the IIMS London Conference 2015 speaker programme recently and I have been delighted by the initial feedback from members. I am so pleased that Nick Sloane, the man behind the parbuckling project on the Costa Concordia, has agreed to speak; but he is one of a number of excellent speakers and the conference will cover a multitude of topics. Particular thanks go to DGS Marine Group and Constellation Marine Services for their generous support and sponsorship.

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Out with the old; in with the new

iims416So what happened to 2014? It went by like a whirlwind and I find myself shortly to celebrate my first year in office, which I find unthinkable.

Of course at the end of the year it is natural to look back and to assess the highs and the lows and to review the events that shaped the year. Fortunately for me, there have been many more good times than bad times.

So the top ten achievements that the IIMS team has delivered during 2014 (in my opinion) and in no particular order of importance are as follows;

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Out and about

David Lawrence, Controller Lloyds Agents, and Mike Schwarz at the networking event
David Lawrence, Controller Lloyds Agents, and Mike Schwarz at the networking event

Meeting IIMS members face to face is always pleasurable. It seems I can find out much more about what members like, their gripes and even pick up some great ideas when meeting face to face as I go out and about. Somehow email exchanges rarely bring the same result. And so it was when I joined the Small Craft Working Group two day training session at Rosneath west of Glasgow. On the first day I gave a short presentation on head office activities. It was clear that some of what I was saying was news and of interest to them. Yet again I question the true value of email. All of the information had been made available by email, yet not seen by most. My challenge for 2015 is to find other ways to effectively communicate with the membership.

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Variety is the spice of life

IIMS logoWhen I took the role of CEO with the International Institute of Marine Surveying, nothing could have prepared me for the sheer variety of the work. Of course we are engaged in membership services, but then there is the area of our education programme and finally our specialist work as an MCA approved Certifying Authority – each quite different and demanding in their own way.

Last week, the MCA came to our offices for the annual audit, Clearly this was on the back of an indifferent audit in 2013. So it is pleasing to report that we have been given a much improved report and praised for the strides we have made in the past year. Well done to Carol (CA Administrator) and the CA committee for their sterling work.

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