News Bulletins

The past month has seen the UK basking in record high temperatures with rain a seemingly distant but needed prospect – not what us Brits are used to. This meant that the Seawork exhibition, held at Southampton in early July, was a great success due in part to the amazing weather conditions, if a bit warm inside the tented structures. We met a good number of members, students and others interested in the activities of the Institute. This year, the Small Craft Surveyors Forum presentation, held on the afternoon of the middle day, was one of the best – a resounding success and it attracted a strong audience. Read a brief report elsewhere in this bulletin.

It is several years since we undertook the last membership research study. Over the past few years, much has changed at IIMS and it is now a very different organisation which I would describe as outward looking, forward thinking, operating in niche marine sectors and generally embracing technology. We have developed a range of new products and services from launching a series of handy guides and a specialist App to upscaling our small craft and online training offering, developing an effective social media strategy and generally pushing the profile of the Institute higher in the surveying and wider shipping and boating world. So that is why we are asking for your views again at this time.

View the bulletin to continue reading: News-Bulletin-August-2018  (pdf format) or click to read it in e-reader format.

Last week, the IIMS Annual General Meeting 2018 took place at Heathrow Airport near London. This year we streamed the event live and attracted a good online presence. The AGM is always a time to reflect as well as to look ahead and the term ‘out with the old and in with the new’ springs to mind! I refer of course to the changing of the IIMS Presidents this year, always a symbolic moment. On behalf of members and myself I would like to personally thank Adam Brancher for his work as President over the past two years. He has done a sterling job and he has been required to do a bit more than previous Presidents due to circumstances; and I am grateful to him. I bid Capt Zarir Irani a warm welcome as your new President.

It was heartening to see those eligible to vote overwhelmingly accepting the proposal to develop a non-mandatory accreditation scheme for IIMS members. My colleagues and I will now look in earnest to better understand what this might look like and start to develop a framework.

View the bulletin to continue reading: News-Bulletin-July-2018 (pdf format) or click to read it in e-reader format.

A busy month completed and another one looms. Yes, June sees the IIMS 2018 Annual General Meeting being held by Heathrow Airport, London on 26 June. For the first time, we are streaming the AGM, which is free to attend, live. I urge you to read my CEO AGM Report ahead of the meeting as it gives details on some of the important activities you are being asked to vote on and to register your vote subsequently if you are a full Member. There are some important matters that I hope you will be of sufficient concern to engage you in this process. Full details of how to do that and how to get involved with the AGM are included in this news bulletin. Remember, it is your Institute and you can help to shape our future.

I alluded to May being a busy month and it was. As you know, I relish the chance to meet members. Both the recent tonnage measurement and Certifying Authority training days gave me ample opportunity to greet a number of members. Hard on the heels of these two events was the third eCMId AVI seminar, which we presented and held close to London. It was a great success and once again highlights the Institute’s ability to get involved in some key, associated industry sectors through its subsidiary, the Marine Surveying Academy, which is continuing to grow in stature and importance.

View the bulletin to continue reading: News-Bulletin-June-2018 (pdf format) or click to read it in e-reader format

Rules and regulations – love them or hate them – seem to be very much the flavour of this month. The three recent ones I’d like to draw your attention to particularly and mention in a bit more detail in this news bulletin are the looming EU General data protection Regulation, International Maritime Organization’s strategy on the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions from ships and the new Yacht Code under development by the Red Ensign Group. And whilst not all three launch this month, it is the fact that such diverse bits of regulation should be in the news together reminding me of the wide range of skills a marine surveyor needs to master (or at least have a grip on) as business knowledge combines with technical knowledge and maritime regulation to potentially create the perfect storm.

Let me start with the new EU General data protection Regulation (GDPR) that comes into force on 25 May. Quite simply, it is a major overhaul on the way a business gathers, stores and uses personal data. In view of the recent Facebook revelations that have shaken the world, most would say this is a good thing. Importantly, however, it is not just EU based organisations that will need to comply.

View the bulletin to continue reading: News Bulletin May 2018 (pdf format) or click to read it in e-reader format

The past month has been an eventful one, to say the least. When is that ever not the case? There have been a number of key deadlines, preparation for the quarterly management board meeting and training seminars to prepare and deliver. Whoever said deadlines did not focus one’s mind?

It has been great to get out and meet IIMS members and a number of non-members too both in Baltimore at the IIMS North American two day Conference held at MITAGS, as well as at what turned out to be a truly informative one day course entitled ‘How to conduct a complete mast and rigging survey’, expertly delivered by Kim Skov-Nielsen in Southampton. Full reports on both events can be found elsewhere in this news bulletin.

We are delighted to welcome five new members from South Korea and there is an article about them written by IIMS member, Peter Broad. There is also news about the sale of Geoff Waddington’s business as our Deputy Vice President seeks a quieter surveying life in semi-retirement in Portugal.

View the bulletin to continue reading: News Bulletin April 2018 (pdf format) or click to read it in e-reader format.