Janet Porter

Julian Bray, Editor-in-Chief of TradeWinds, named Seahorse Journalist of the Year

London, UK, Friday 16th December 2016 – Journalists and editors from across the supply chain and maritime industry were recognised for outstanding writing at the Seahorse Club’s awards in London last week.

Twelve winners were rewarded for articles, publications, and social media campaigns covering topics from the Northern Sea Route, to Amazon’s investment in transport, and innovative ship design.

Julian Bray, Editor-in-Chief at TradeWinds, was named Seahorse Journalist of the Year.

“Julian demonstrated an impressive ability to tackle tough questions and differences of opinion without sensationalism, and he covered a great range of topics,” the judges wrote in their summary.

Nicola Good, Executive Editor of Fairplay, was awarded the International Editor Award, pictured here with Pamela Wilczek, Head of Marketing, HANSA HEAVY LIFT.

Lloyd’s List’s Janet Porter, Editor-in-Chief – Containers, was named News Journalist of the Year and was also the John Richman Lifetime Achievement Award winner.

“Janet is a phenomenal journalist, who is much loved by industry contacts and her newsroom colleagues,” said Peter Owen, Chairman, the Seahorse Club.

“Her passion for the subject at hand and attention to detail are second to none and she is a force within any organisation.”

Ines Nastali, Industry Reporter at The Marine Professional, scooped first prize for both the Journalism on Innovation, and the Newcomer of the Year awards.

Nicola Good, Executive Editor of Fairplay, was awarded International Editor, while David Harris, Editor of Cargo Facts, scooped Air Cargo Journalist of the Year, and Carly Fields, News Editor at Breakbulk, won Environmental Journalist.

Julian Bray, Editor-in-Chief of Tradewinds, was named Seahorse Journalist of the Year, and is pictured accepting his award from Andrew Huxley, Development Director EMEA for Thomas Miller.

The Supply Chain Journalist of the Year award went to Mike King from Flying Typers, whilst Greg Miller, Senior Commerce Editor at Fairplay, won Social Media Journalist Award.

Other winners on the night included Helen Kelly, Europe Editor-in-Chief, and Gary Howard, News Editor, both from Lloyd’s List, who were jointly named Feature Journalist of the Year.

Peregrine Storrs-Foxx, Risk Management Director at TT Club, was named the John Rose Personality of the Year for his work supporting the industry in the roll out of the new Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS) container weighing regulations.

The Seahorse Club is a networking group for journalists and professionals in the freight transport, shipping, and logistics sectors founded in 1963.

To find out more visit seahorseclub.co.uk

Full list of winners below:

Seahorse Journalist of the Year Award
Runner up: Randy Woods, Air Cargo World
Winner: Julian Bray, TradeWinds
Sponsored by: Thomas Miller

International Editor of the Year
Winner: Nicola Good, Fairplay
Sponsored by: PSA International

News Journalist of the Year
Runner up: Przemysław Myszka, Baltic Transport Journal
Winner: Janet Porter, Lloyd’s List
Sponsored by: DP World

Journalism on Innovation
Runner up: Felicity Landon, Port Strategy
Winner: Ines Nastali, The Marine Professional
Sponsored by: DNV GL

Air Cargo Journalist Award
Winner: David Harris, Cargo Facts
Sponsored by: Air Canada Cargo

Social Media Journalist of the Year
Winner: Greg Miller, Fairplay
Sponsored by: HANSA HEAVY LIFT

Environmental Journalist of the Year
Winner: Carly Fields, Breakbulk
Sponsored by: Wallenius Wilhelmsen Logistics

Supply Chain Journalist of the Year
Runner up: Felicity Landon, Port Strategy
Winner: Mike King, Flying Typers
Sponsored by: Geodis Freight Forwarding

Feature Journalist of the Year
Runner up: Carly Fields, Breakbulk
Winner: Helen Kelly and Gary Howard, Lloyd’s List
Sponsored by: The Seahorse Club

Newcomer of the Year
Winner: Ines Nastali, The Maritime Professional
Sponsored by: TT Club

John Rose Personality of the Year Award
Winner: Peregrine Storrs-Foxx, Risk Management Director at TT Club

John Richman Lifetime Achievement Award
Winner: Janet Porter, Lloyd’s List

About Seahorse Club

The Seahorse Club is a lively networking group; a forum for public relations, marketing, advertising and journalism professionals within the freight transport, shipping, and logistics sectors.

The Network was founded in 1963 with the main aim of providing a positive social and professional forum ‘promoting the promoters’ of sea travel. Since that date it has broadened its scope to embrace all other forms of transportation products, systems, and services. The common bond is that Seahorse members enjoy the industry and enjoy sharing their experiences with other members.

Whether you represent transport principals or promote an in-house service, the Seahorse Club provides an excellent opportunity to meet others with similar jobs and interests. We hold regular events designed to inform, entertain and create debate, drawing on the experiences of members, special industry guests and trade journalists; in particular these include The Christmas Party and Journalist Awards and the Summer Barbecue.

l to r: Pighi N. Skinitis, Anny J. Zade, Tina Tsoukala, Natasha Konstandellou, Tenia Koroneou and Iris Liaskoni at the Yfantourgimata stand

Following the successful Annual Christmas Lunch at the Royal Thames Yacht Club last Sunday, the Lyceums last event for 2016 was also a great success. Earlier on today until early this evening at the Board Room of London’s Hellenic Centre the Annual Christmas Bazaar was a sold-out soon after the doors opened!

With a dozen or so stalls, this unique cultural charity, once again surprised us following last year’s event with traditionality so we don’t forget our Motherlands, Greece and Cyprus!

Melomakarona, Tsourekia and Kourabiedes the sweet-name of the …day! Did I hear you say cookies? All sold out!!!! Lucky to see a few gifts from Yfantourgimata by Tina Tsoukala once again exhibiting this year and Gifts from Tania; the excellent Annual Calendar by Doulla  Phyrillas; the Seascapes is on all counts the best ever produced Annual Calendar!!

Sophy Niotis (standing) with Lydia Pateras at the Lyceum’s stand selling gifts and promoting calendars including this year’s special one, the Seascapes!

Over 150 friends of the Lykion ton Hellinidon passed-by to support this very special bazaar of this unique charitable society!

Once again many congratulations to the president Pighi N. Skinitis and all the ladies at the board, as well as the Lyceum’s members and friends for setting up this annual bazaar and do log on to their website and learn more on the events, folklore Greek dance lessons and join in: www.lykiontonhellinidon.co.uk

…and Doulla Phyrillas at centre stage in front of the sweets stand of Mrs. Skyllas and the embroidery special stand

Kazan’s welcome at World Travel Market (detail from the main picture which is on the right)

Kazan, Russia’s “third city,” offers capital attractions

By James Brewer

Welcome to the Kremlin – not the most famous citadel of that name, in Moscow – but a magnificent complex within another historic city, 797 km from the Russian capital.

The Kremlin of the riverport city of Kazan is one of five such Unesco heritage sites in Russia, and tourism representatives from the region manned a colourful stand at the 2016 World Travel Market in London.

Kazan’s welcome at World Travel Market.

Occupying a picturesque site on the left bank of the Volga, Kazan is the capital of the Republic of Tatarstan and is one of the largest industrial, financial, trade and tourist centres of Russia. One of its claims to fame, civic leaders say, is that Russians and Tatars, the two biggest ethnic groups in the federation, live peacefully together.

The Kazan Kremlin is far from unknown: in 2015 it was visited by hundreds of thousands of tourists.

On the orders of Ivan the Terrible who ruthlessly took the city in 1552 the fortress was built on the ruins of an earlier castle. The Kazan Kremlin incorporates many buildings, the oldest of which is the Annunciation Cathedral (1554-62) in pale sandstone.

As in Pisa, there is a leaning tower: this one is known as the Leaning Tower of Princess Suumbike. The spire deviates from the vertical by almost 2 m in a north-easterly direction.

Kazan Kremlin and other sights – official city brochure.

Within the Kazan Kremlin zone are the president’s residence, government buildings, museums and exhibition halls and even a park.

Elsewhere in Kazan, the biggest mosque in Europe, the Qolşärif Mosque, was opened in June 2005. It reconstitutes the Al-Kabir mosque of the Khanate of Kazan. The khanate was a Bulgarian-Tatar Turkic state on the territory of Volga Bulgaria between 1438 and 1552.

Another historic zone is Staro-Tatarskaya Sloboda, the old Tatar settlement by Lake Kaban, full of Tatar mansions, mosques and bazaar stores.

Promoting the Kazan brand.

Kazan has a rich cultural life, with 20 state and five municipal museums and numerous private museums. The Soviet Lifestyle Museum introduces the visitor to “the not so remote, yet already forgotten 1970s and 1980s.” There are seven theatres and many festivals including the Feodor Chaliapin Festival, Rudolf Nureyev International festival of Classical Ballet, Festival of Muslim Cinema, and a festival of Tatar culture and folklore.

The former Imperial Kazan University, under its current name of the Kazan Federal University, has a museum, too. Among the university’s students were Leo Tolstoy and Vladimir Lenin.

With more than 1m residents, Kazan is the eighth most populous city in Russia. In 2009, the Russian Patent Office granted the metropolis the right to call itself the Third Capital of Russia. In the same year, it was chosen as the Sports  Capital of Russia. The city hosted the 2013 Summer Universiade, 2014 World Fencing Championships, the 2015 World Aquatics Championships, and is one of the host cities for the 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup and the 2018 FIFA World Cup. Visitors are offered a three-hour Football Kazan Tour, which celebrates local team FC Rubin Kazan and its ultra-modern stadium.

Flying the flag.

Tourism in Tatarstan is said to be growing by between 10% and 12% a year, and the Riviera aquapark is among the big draws.

Organisations represented at the Kazan stand at the World Travel Market included Hospitality Travel (the representative company in the UK of the State Committee on Tourism of the Republic of Tatarstan) and Travel Agency Kazan.

The early history of Kazan is uncertain, but it may have been on the Volga trade route between Scandinavia and Baghdad.

South of Kazan, the site of the ancient city of Bolgar, a Unesco heritage site, lies on the shores of the Volga. It contains evidence of an early settlement of the civilisation of Volga-Bolgars, which existed between the 7th and 15th centuries AD, and was the first capital of the Golden Horde in the 13th century. Unesco says: “The historical and archaeological complex of Bolgar is a symbolic reminder of the acceptance of Islam by the Volga-Bolgars in 922 AD and, to Tatar Muslims, remains sacred and a pilgrimage destination.”

Thanks to Peter the Great, Kazan’s star rose as a centre of shipbuilding for the Caspian fleet. The port, the largest on the Volga, is known as the Port of Five Seas. The website www.russia-channel.com says that besides commercial shipping traffic, the port deals with many passenger liners. During the revolt in 1774, it was mostly destroyed, but rebuilt during the reign of Catherine the Great, says the website.

In May 2013, a shipbuilding training centre was opened at Kazan State Technical University. Its aim is to educate qualified engineers and technical employees, and there is a ship testing basin.

Welcoming brochure

Having determined that 1005 was year of the city’s official establishment, Kazan celebrated its millennium in 2005. One of the most important millennium events was the inauguration of the Kazan metro system. The metro is “the first, and so far, the only metro launched in new Russia,” say city leaders.  The stations are “masterpieces” and one is decorated with white and green marble, with pictures on the walls of Roman mosaic showing heroes and historic themes, and a portrait of the Tatar writer Gabdulla Tukay.

The city has 115 ethnic groups, and Tatar – a Turkic language – and Russian are the official languages.

Joe Hughes

American Club shares in shipowner joy over premiums stability

Having in line with other shipowner mutual insurers announced a zero “general increase” in premiums for the February 2017 renewal, the American P&I Club is in good heart.

This was clear from the positive atmosphere at the club’s traditional December gatherings in London and in Piraeus for brokers and others in the maritime community, when there were capacity audiences.

Shipowners have received further glad tidings, as the International Group of P&I Clubs has cut its excess loss reinsurance rates, with crude tankers and dry cargoships reaping most benefits. Reductions vary from 5% to 9.3% depending on vessel type.

Vince Solarino

Insurers have taken on board the industry’s improved claims record, their better investment returns, and the fact that operators are suffering from a continuing slump in freight rates that has seen some big company names go out of business.

At the American Club’s Trinity House get-together, those present heard that the club has gained 1.5m gt net since the beginning of the policy year, February 2016, and that sister operation American Hellenic Hull Club has signed nearly 1,000 vessels after just a few months since its launch.

Joe Hughes, chairman and chief executive of managers Shipowners Claims Bureau Inc reviewed the year’s activities.

The background is that perhaps for the first time every major club has forgone a call for a general increase at the next renewal. One senior broker, Martin Hubbard of Tysers, has written in his P&I review: “So, the 2017 renewal will be the softest in the writer’s lifetime, and that is a lot of years. Even so, the clubs will face very difficult discussions with members who continue to suffer with depressed freight markets and look with envy and some justifiable resentment at the continuing enrichment of the clubs.”

A full house attending at Trinity House

The American Club sought a 2.5% general increase in February 2016. Although there will be no general increase in February 2017, deductibles under $10,000 will rise by $1,000.

Mr Hughes said that 2016 had been an extraordinarily good year for the level of claims on the club, and in terms of contributions to the International Group of P&I Clubs pool.

At the end of October 2016, the return on the club’s investments stood at 2.4%, and Mr Hughes was “optimistic these figures will be even more respectable at year-end.”

The club underwrote almost 2.5m gt in new tonnage since February 2016, and “We are optimistic this result will increase further by the end of the 2016-17 policy year”.

Ilias Tsakiris during his presentation

The American Club chief spoke of the changing composition of the insured portfolio.  Two years previously it contained more dry bulk carriers than tankers, but the tanker market has been better than the dry sector and expanded.

Geographically, 48% of the club’s entered tonnage was run from the Europe, Middle East and Africa region, and 35% from North America, he said. The club had added 10% more tonnage in the past 12 months, and there was growing confidence in Greece.

The club made what it calls a strategic investment in the hull and machinery market in 2015 by establishing American Hellenic Hull Insurance Co, the first new Solvency II licensed insurance company in Cyprus (possibly the first in the European Union) writing hull and machinery business.

Dorothea Ioannou

The core of business for American Hellenic Hull derives from that of Hellenic Hull Mutual Association which had a substantial following, particularly within the eastern Mediterranean. Mr Hughes said at the time of its formation: “This is one of the most significant developments in the American Club’s recent history.”

Mr Hughes reported advances at Eagle Ocean Marine, an American Club fixed premium facility “offering gold standard International Group club service, underpinned by the impeccable security of reinsurance at Lloyd’s.” He said that combined ratio at that facility was 62%.

The facility, operated by Eagle Ocean Agencies Inc offers P&I, and freight, demurrage and defence cover for policy limits up to $500m (although lower limits are routinely agreed) and $2m respectively.

From the reception that took place after the presentations

It sets out to appeal to “operators of smaller vessels who prefer a fixed premium approach to their P&I needs. Backed by the American Club in conjunction with underwriters at Lloyd’s, Eagle Ocean Marine offers a gold standard International Group club service underpinned by the excellent security of reinsurance at Lloyd’s.”

Presentations followed by Vince Solarino, president and chief operating officer of Shipowners Claims Bureau New York; Dorothea Ioannou, managing director of SCB (Hellas) and global business development director; and Ilias Tsakiris of the American Hellenic.

Ms Ioannou gave an overview of the global team and business philosophy

American Hellenic, a wholly-owned American Club subsidiary, in its first six months has achieved a loss ratio of under 30%. Mr Solarino added that American Hellenic is performing better than expected, and Mr Tsakiris said that since starting formal operation on July 1 2016 the company had signed 920 vessels, a tally it aimed to lift to 1,500 by the end of 2017.

Another view from the reception

The full title of the club is the American Steamship Owners Mutual Protection and Indemnity Association Inc. It is the only mutual P&I club domiciled in the US.

On February 14, 2017, the club will celebrate its centenary, and is publishing a book chronicling its history, starting with its foundation as an exclusively US enterprise in reaction to sanctions placed on American shipowners by the British government during World War I.

Of the present day, Mr Solarino said that following its recent progress, “the American Club is not done yet: we have a lot of initiatives.  We keep our ear to the market.”

Anny Zade with Dorothea Ioannou

DNV GL’s Kostas Pappadakis, one of our hosts with guests including Takis N. Pappas, Konstantinos Xydis and Nikos Gounaris

Following the excellent finale of informa’s Salvage & Towage successful annual conference, the first of three Christmas events tonight begun with DNV GL’s Christmas Drinks in the early evening hours at the unique environment of the Doggett’s Coat and Badge, just off Blackfriars Bridge at the banks of Father Thames. Iris Liaskoni managed to be there from the very beginning to report:

With more than 100 guests, DNV GL’s team hosted us in the warmest way as every year, with great music, a selection of wines, spirits and vivers of the highest quality. The event was a great opportunity to meet familiar and new faces of the industry that honored this world renown classification society with their presence, and to share with each other different points of view on current shipping business and social topics, creating a productive and pleasant interaction.

Lomar’s george Dimitriou with DNV Gl’s Evan Zaranis

Christos Kottas and Dinos Symeonides

We wish to thank the management of DNV GL, and all the team for organizing this lovely evening, and to give our best wishes to this up and coming classification society for the successful continuation and further development of their international business activities in a very demanding maritime environment!

l to r: Kostas Ladas, Scott Bergeron and Hilary Spilkin

The second Christmas event of the day was organized by LISCR’s London office. LISCR administers the Liberian Registry which was established in 1948 and today ranks as the second largest in the world. The drinks and appetizers event took place at the temple of British Shipping, the Baltic Exchange in the heart of the Square Mile; Iris Liaskoni was there with her camera:

With many from the top echelon of international shipping’s stakeholders, and the warmest welcome by the hosts – that was the perfect setting for this annual Christmas event, the reception at the Baltic’s Bar was more than a great success!

A full house at the Baltic’s bar

We had the pleasure to meet again, among the respectable management officers and personnel of LISCR, Scott Bergeron CEO –  and Hilary Spilkin – Managing Director of the Corporate Registry from the Washington offices, and of course Kostas Ladas of the UK office, who was as always an excellent host. The hosts ensured in creating a warm and pleasant environment, with fine spirits, refreshments and dips, but most importantly, by inviting all those friendly people we met and discuss with, making the event a great opportunity for an excellent network interaction in a pre-Christmas jovial mood!

Many thanks to the management of The Liberian Registry, for offering us those nice moments, as well as all the people who contributed in organising the event, and making it unfold so pleasurably.

Some of the Belarus team at WTM.

Belarus crafts a colourful tourism campaign

By James Brewer and Graciete Amaro

Meeting exhibitors from around the world who are attired in their beautiful national and regional dress is a memorable feature of the annual World Travel Market in London, and the delegation from Belarus to the 2016 show added one such welcome splash of colour to wintry London.

A chat with the Belarusians led us to research the intriguing history of their country which has highlights glorious and otherwise – it is often forgotten that this land played an important role in the first accurate three-dimensional measurement of the Earth. We return to this scientific theme, which has merited a Unesco heritage listing, later in this article.

Businesses supporting the Belarus display at WTM were Belarus National Tourism Agency, Belarustourist, Minsk Tourist Information Centre, Prime Tour and Paradise Travel, all based in Minsk. From the last-named company, director Irina Zhukova and her colleague Darya, in elegant traditional apparel, made a splendid impression on everyone who visited and passed near the stand during the three days of the fair.

This led us to enquire about folk traditions, and as a visit to an open-air museum (known as a skansen in much of Europe) is a treat in any country, we were pleased to learn of the Belarusian State Museum of Folk Architecture and Rural Lifestyle, 4 km from the capital Minsk, which has 25 traditional buildings with restored interiors.

Irina (left) and Darya from Paradise Travel, with Graciete Amaro

Further, there is a complex of ancient crafts located 40km from the capital. It is called the Dudutki museum and is in a picturesque setting near the Ptich River, one and a half kilometres from the village of Dudichi.

The village was first chronicled in the 11th century, the museum’s website says. “According to the texts of The Tale of Igor’s Campaign and the opinion of some researches, a legendary Polotsk prince Vseslav the Sorcerer wended his way to Polotsk using the road that supposedly passed through these places in the past.”

In the 20^th century, the nobles who ran the estate fled overseas as World Wars I and II and the impact of the 1917 October Revolution encroached on their heritage, leaving in Dudichi only the remains of a watermill and a system of channels. A businessman-publisher in the 1990s started a farm on the site as the nucleus of a museum and since 1998 under new ownership the museum complex has featured a functioning windmill and workshops in carpentry, ceramics, baking, cheese-making and other skills.

1941 was the start of what is termed in Belarus the Great Patriotic War, when there was a terrible toll on the country – one in every three citizens perished. Military history is thus a big and sombre theme throughout the land, on which over the centuries many rival powers trampled to fight their battles and persecute the population, and an important branch of tourism focuses upon it.

For all but the most enterprising tourists, Belarus might be well down the must-see list, but unsurprisingly it is popular with citizens of neighbouring Russia and Poland. People from elsewhere might find wrestling with the visa formalities (specialist travel agencies can help) would prove worthwhile.

The Belarus team at the World Travel Market emphasised that there is a lot more to their country than the first stop of Minsk, magnet though that is. National parks, reserves, forests, lakes, castles, manor houses, festivals and individual features of various towns deserve attention.

As a bonus, the holidaymaker will find prices in Belarus generally more affordable than those in Russia, it is said.

Brochures from Prime Tour and from Minsk Tourist Information Centre.

The country is spread over 207,560 sq km, making it slightly smaller in area than the UK. Minsk, population 1.9m out of 9.5m nationally, hosts many cultural splendours including the National Academic Bolshoi Opera and Ballet Theatre and the National Library, one of the largest in the world, consolidating in 2006 collections previously held in six buildings. Minsk-Arena is described as one of the most modern multifunctional complexes in Europe, designed for international sports – including cycling, skating and hockey – and cultural and recreational activities.

Plostshad Pobedy (Victory Square) has impressive monuments to Soviet Army soldiers, partisans and underground fighters.

Important churches include the baroque Cathedral of the Blessed Virgin Mary, which has had a chequered history. Damaged during World War II, it was rebuilt for the sports club Spartak, but “returned to believers” in 1993 with much restoration inside and out.

The only Orthodox church in Minsk is the Cathedral of Saints Peter and Paul, built 1611-1613 with bulky walls and high windows for defence that made it an impregnable fortress.

Ploschad Nezavisimosti (Independence Square, formerly Lenin Square) in central Minsk dates from the 1930s. It has the main building of the Belarusian State University, the municipality the pre-war Government House, and the pre-revolutionary Red Church – the Church of Saints Simon and Helena which had various functions including as the Museum of Belarusian Cinema before being returned to the Roman Catholic Church in 1990.

Four locations in the republic are on the Unesco World Heritage List. Mir Castle Complex and Niesvizh Castle “will unveil the secrets” of the aristocratic Radziwill family. Belovezhskaya Pushcha National Park is the surviving section of the primeval forest which once stretched from the Baltic Sea to the Buh River and from Odder to the Dnieper River. The park is 340km south-west of Minsk in the Brest region on the border with Poland. It has the beauty of a living Eden, say tourism authorities.

The forest suffered badly during World War II, when more than 4.5m cu m of timber was cut down. There are 600-year-old oaks and 300-year-old pines among which roam lynx, wild boars and red deer, with white-tailed eagles up above. Most intriguing is the symbol of the forest, the auroch, a kind of bison which is related to an ancient breed of cattle contemporary with mammoths and woolly rhinos. An article in the Minsk Herald related that the last Belarusian auroch was killed in 1919 by a local forester, but in 1946 five animals were brought in from Poland to found a new strain.

The fourth Unesco site is the Struve Geodetic Arc, also known as the Russo-Scandinavian meridian arc. It was the first accurate measurement of a meridian and is in effect the longest monument in the world. It stretches through 10 countries along 2,820 km, as a chain of survey triangulations. Starting from near the port of Hammerfest – the world’s most northerly city – in Norway, it makes its way to the Black Sea,

The survey chain was the brainwave of Friedrich Georg Wilhelm von Struve of the St Petersburg Academy of Sciences who founded the Pulkovo Observatory near that city, and the painstaking work took from 1816 to 1855 to complete. The aim was to establish the exact size and shape of the earth. His early 19^th century calculations differ by only 3.5 cm from the observations recorded by modern satellites.

Struve strove to register geodetic points on the longitude 25 Degrees East. Originally the Arc included 265 points – in Norway, Sweden, Finland, Russia, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Belarus, Moldova and Ukraine. Alexander II of Russia, and Carl XV King of Norway and Sweden, decreed that these points should be marked with monuments. Today there remain 34 commemorative plaques and obelisks out of the 265. In all, 31 points were fixed on Belarusian soil, more than in any other country.

A brand new scientific initiative is the “miracle bench” In Vileyka, a town 100 km from Minsk. The bench, in the grounds of Vileyka State College, is modelled on the fortress gates of the Russian city of Kazan, and linked to it is a telescope, making it an astronomical bench from which the stars can be observed…

Minsk has its share of leading museums: the Belarusian State Museum of the Great Patriotic War, the National Art Museum and the National History Museum among them.

In Vitebsk is the childhood home of one of the greatest painters of all time, Marc Chagall.  His museum-house is on one bank of the Dvina river, and an art centre for exhibitions dedicated to him is on the other.

Meanwhile, the capital’s night life has been augmented with the opening of the first bar with a skyscraper view over the city. The DOTXX1 bar is on the 21st floor of the new shopping centre Galleria Minsk, next to the Double Tree Hotel by Hilton. Cocktails and French champagne are served, and German chef Gerald Reichstein prepares pan-Asian cuisine.

Typically Belarusian cooking is more solid fare: potato pancakes, dumplings, and machanka (pork stew, usually served with crepes) are among filling offerings.

Professor Dr. Kostas Andriosopoulos

Since its inception in March 2015, the Hellenic Association for Energy Economics (www.HAEE.gr) acts as an interdisciplinary forum / think tank that promotes the exchange of ideas, research results and experiences among academics, professionals, business executives and other stakeholders related to energy, environment and economy. 

HAEE will soon complete a year of constructive operation, having covered a wide range of issues concerning the relations among Greece, Balkans, the wider Eastern Mediterranean region and the MENA region, with many major global players in the energy field.

Being the official Greek affiliate of the International Association for Energy Economics (www.IAEE.org), HAEE completes the missing link in the global chain of information and cooperation among the largest private, public, academic, research and journalistic entities of energy from US to the Russian Federation and China and from Europe to the Middle East, central Asia and Africa.

The main objective of HAEE is mostly responding to the energy needs of our region, through the exchange of ideas and the close cooperation among the Greek energy agencies, both private and public, and those of other countries in order to achieve synergies for their common benefit.

The first major international conference organized by HAEE was named “Energy Market: Unlocking Greece’s Economic Potential” and it was focused on Energy and Economic Development. Under the auspices of H.E. the President of the Greek Republic, Mr Prokopis Pavlopoulos and the support of the Environment and Energy Ministry, the European Commission Representation in Greece and the World Energy Council, successful business practices were presented for the strengthening of the energy sector and the development of the Greek economy. During the official dinner of the conference, the President of IAEE handed an honorary plaque to the HAEE and its Chairman, Professor Dr. Kostas Andriosopoulos, for its contribution to energy economics.

As part of the 4th Greek-Russian Social Forum, the HAEE had the honor to host the first Greek-Russian Energy Conference named “Energy cooperation: Base for a long term and mutually beneficial relationship“. In the conference were given speeches by both ministers of Foreign Affairs of Russia and Greece, Mr. Sergei Lavrov and Mr. Nikos Kotzias, by the Minister of Environment and Energy, Mr. Panos Skourletis, the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ioannis Amanatidis and by other senior energy company executives.

Aiming to highlight the latest developments in the exploration and production of hydrocarbons in Western Greece, the HAEE in cooperation with the Chamber of Commerce of Achaia and the newspaper “Peloponnisos” organized the “First Energy Forum for Western Greece“, supported by the Chamber of Achaia. Among the discussed topics were the developments of the newly shaped electricity market in Greece, the current presence of the alternative electricity providers and their contribution to energy costs’ reduction.

Alongside the conferences organized in 2016, the HAEE supported activities and events on energy in Greece and abroad, such as the fifth energy conference “Energy, Growth and Sustainable Development: Opportunities vs. Country Risk” in Athens on April 21, the second Eurasian Natural Gas Infrastructure Conference that took place in Athens on 22 and 23 May 2016, the Regional Conference of the ENTSO-e “Adding the last piece of the puzzle: Integrating South East Europe into the IEM, South East Europe” in Thessaloniki on November 3, the “Greek-French forum for Entrepreneurship and Innovation” at the French Institute in Athens Greece on 24-25 November, as well as the first Energy Symposium of the Italian Affiliate of the  IAEE “Future Challenges to Energy Security” which took place in Milan on November 30th.

Being focused on the development of the energy and environmental sector in Greece, HAEE will soon complete one year of operation with great success while preparing the next steps for 2017. More specifically, HAEE is already organizing its 2^ndmajor international conference named “The landscape in the new era of energy transition: challenges, investment opportunities and technological innovations “, which will be held at Metropolitan Hotel Athens on 18-20 May 2017. Finally, aiming at the exchange of ideas, research results and experiences among academics and professionals from all areas related to energy, environment and economy, HAEE is already scheduling targeted energy forums in Athens and in other regions and cities of the Hellenic Republic, which will be announced in early 2017.

The Board of HAEE sends to all our members (current and future members!) as well as to all our friends and supporters, best wishes for a Happy New Year, full of Health, Creativity, and of course positive Energy!

Thank you!

INTERCARGO’S Secretary General Dr. Kostas G. Gkonis, with Katharina Stanzel – Managing Director and Nicholas Tsakos – Chairman, from INTERTANKO

INTERCARGO and INTERTANKO join open house-reception in the heart of London’s Square Mile last Thursday was a great success this year! Who wasn’t there; more than 200 guests and many members from both associations attended! John Faraclas was there with his camera:

This pre-Christmas afternoon reception was attended by the top echelon of the City’s international shipping entities – Analysts, Charities, Classification societies, Flag State’s representatives, Journalists, Legal practices, Maritime Arbitrators, Maritime Organisations, Oil Companies, PandI Clubs,  Shipbrokers, Shipmanagers, shipowners, you name it were there.

Intertanko’s Johan Gahnstrom, Intercargo’s Dr. Kostas Gkionis, Intertanko’s Katharina Stanzel and ClassNK’s London head Dr. Abdul Rahim

It was also beyond the announcement’s …offerings of  “…a drink, some nibbles and a mince pie” ; a great variety of hot and cold food for all tastes from all over Planet Ocean’s regions; unique and superb! Good spirits too raising the business and festive season’s spirits too; good red wine in particular!

A great chance to catch-up with many from both associations secretariats as well as the chance to meet at ease many specialists in the field as the main issue was for both dry and wet markets prospects, given the annus horribilis witnessed by all through 2016 and beyond.

Sophia P. Contraros, Peter D. Contraros of PDC Maritime, Dr. Peter Swift from HRAS and Claire Heath from the Sailors’ Society

Regulation was the second most discussed issue, the third being BREXIT… Lucky to talk to Stavroula Betsakou, head of Tanker Research for Howe Robinson. All in all, I could see a controlled optimism on all three issues, and that’s very important!

Congrats to the organisers of both associations for this double event and pleased to see a strong Greek presence!

___

About INTERCARGO: 

INTERCARGO is the short name for the International Association of Dry Cargo Shipowners.
It was established in 1980 with the objective of giving a voice to shipowners, managers and operators of dry cargo vessels and represent better this shipping sector. The power of INTERCARGO, like its partner shipping associations, is that collectively, it is possible to change bulk carrier industry for the better in a world where one bulk carrier shipowner acting on its own finds it most difficult to make itself heard and facilitate progress.

LISCR’s Costas Ladas, DNV GL’s Kostas Papadakis, Intrecargo’s Vivian Venizelou and PACCShip’s UK Mladen Velimirovic

INTERCARGO works closely with the other international maritime associations – BIMCO, INTERTANKO and the International Chamber of Shipping who, together with INTERCARGO, comprise the Round Table of International Shipping Associations. The aim of the Round Table is to maximise the benefit to members and to avoid costly and inefficient duplication of activity. We believe that this strategy of working together is in the best interests of our collective memberships.

INTERCARGO Members commit to a safe, efficient, high quality and environmentally-friendly dry cargo shipping industry. INTERCARGO considers that free and fair competition in the shipping industry is of fundamental importance and this serves as its prime principle.

INTERCARGO aims to create strategies to enhance the interests of its Members for the benefit of the dry cargo shipping as a whole.

“INTERCARGO – FOR A SAFE, EFFICIENT AND ENVIRONMENTALLY FRIENDLY DRY CARGO INDUSTRY”

Star Bulk’s Dimitris Kondylis with IMO’s Frederick J. Kenney

About INTERTANKO

INTERTANKO is the International Association of Independent Tanker Owners. INTERTANKOhas been the voice of independent tanker owners since 1970, ensuring that the liquid energy that keeps the world turning is shipped safely, responsibly and competitively.

Gard’s Michael Kougellis with Bureau Veritas’ London office head Yannis Calogeras

Admiral Lord West of Spithead with Sea Cadets at Seafarers UK’s Annual Meeting last year.

On 1 January 2017 the leading maritime charity, Seafarers UK, celebrated the start of its Centenary Year. To mark this anniversary, Seafarers UK is holding a number of special Centenary events around the UK during 2017, in Liverpool, Bristol, Glasgow and London.

On 28 March, exactly 100 years to the day since the first meeting was held in 1917 in the City of London to discuss the formation of the charity (previously known as King George’s Fund for Sailors), Seafarers UK will hold a Centenary Celebration Dinner at Guildhall.

The evening, sponsored by Ruffer LLP, will involve a drinks reception, a splendid three-course dinner, music by the Band of Her Majesty’s Royal Marines, speeches and a special auction. Former Head of the Royal Navy, Admiral Lord West of Spithead is the celebrated after-dinner speaker.

‘Congratulations to Seafarers UK on reaching its Centenary’ said Lord West. ‘I am honoured to speak at this very special event at Guildhall and to help highlight and mark 100 years of welfare support for seafarers in need, and their families, by the leading charity for the entire maritime sector.’

‘The make-up and capability of the UK’s maritime sector has changed dramatically since 1917, and whilst we are still very much an island nation, with serving seafarers in the Royal Navy, Merchant Navy and the Fishing Fleets, the numbers of those actively involved is reducing every year. And I fear that with the continued lack of investment in our Royal Navy, and the ever reducing number of UK cadets entering the increasingly global Merchant Navy, the UK will be left behind as other major nations build up their maritime capabilities, unless more is done to reverse this decline.’

‘Within this context, there is a very important and continued role for Seafarers UK to play, both in helping to raise awareness of the need for, and existence of, training and job opportunities in the maritime sector, and in helping those still serving, but increasingly veterans and ex-seafarers, who have fallen on hard times, and their families.’

For more details about booking to attend the Seafarers UK Centenary Dinner at Guildhall on 28 March 2017, or information on other Seafarers UK Centenary events and projects, please visit www.seafarers.uk or send an email to centenary@seafarers-uk.org.

Seafarers UK

Seafarers UK is a charity that helps people in the maritime community, by providing vital funding to support seafarers in need and their families, and those training for a career at sea. It does this by giving money to organisations and projects that make a real difference to people’s lives, across the Merchant Navy, Royal Navy and Fishing Fleets.

The American Club’s Piraeus team with the Managers of SCB Inc.

• .
• expanded capabilities with office in Houston
• positive investment performance
• increased net tonnage by 10%
• American Hellenic’s tonnage ahead of projections
• Eagle Ocean Marine remains profitable

The American P&I Club, one of the 13 members of the International Group of P&I Clubs attracted maximum capacity at events held in two of the world’s major shipping hubs, Piraeus and London on December 7^th and 9^th 2016 for their annual Market Presentations.  Placing emphasis on and crediting the know-how of the people behind the Club’s service, the Club’s Managers, SCB Inc. as well as the Club’s subsidiary American Hellenic Insurance Company’s CEO made a series of presentations highlighting the following positive developments:

Audience view with the BoD members of the American Club, including Panayiotis J. Christodoulatos (Ikaros Shipping and Brokerage Co., Ltd.), George Vakirtzis (Polembros Shipping, Ltd.), Angelos D. Kostakos (Oceanstar Management, Inc.), Elias Gotsis (Eurotankers Inc.)

• the Club continues to expand it service capabilities with the opening of an office in Houston
• investment performance shows positive despite volatile markets
• that the Club has been successful in increasing its net tonnage by 10% since last 2016 renewal date
• American Hellenic’s insured tonnage ahead of projections for year end
• Eagle Ocean Marine, the Club’s fixed P&I premium cover in conjunction with Lloyds Underwriters continues to increase in volume and remains profitable

Coming in to the Club’s centennial year, Joseph Hughes, CEO and Chairman of SCB Inc, Managers of the Club, explained that the Club continues to expand it service capabilities with the opening of an office in Houston, making it the only IG P&I Club based in the region with full claims handling abilities and emphasized that “the recent years of the unstable economic environment has strengthened the Club’s uncompromised solidarity with its membership in difficult times.” Mr. Hughes then went on to report that Eagle Ocean Marine, the Club’s fixed P&I premium cover in conjunction with Lloyd’s Underwriters continues to increase in volume and remains profitable.

Vince Solarino, COO and President, advised on the global strategy of growth through its regional business development plans implemented over recent years.  He explained that this strategy played a key role in the Club’s net tonnage growth of approximately 10% during the ongoing 2016 policy year despite the greater insurance industry dealing with the continuing consequences of the recession as well as increasing competition and capacity.

Spilios H. Fasois (Faros Marine Services S.A.), Ilias Tsakiris (American Hellenic Hull Insurance Co.), George Alexandratos (Apollonia Lines S.A.), Lilian Evgenidis (Teekay Shipping (UK) Ltd.), Angeliki Rigos (John J. Rigos Marine Enterprises), Panayiotis J. Christodoulatos (Ikaros Shipping and Brokerage Co., Ltd.)

Ilias Tsakiris CEO of the Club’s subsidiary American Hellenic Hull Insurance Company, Ltd. provided the update on the current market position of the now fully licensed and active insurance company indicating that the insured tonnage is ahead of projections for year end with a well-balanced and healthily diversified portfolio both regionally by broker production as well as by vessel type.

The presentations were concluded by Dorothea Ioannou, Global Business Development Director, who gave insight and a picture panoramic tour on the people behind the Club and its history; from the Club’s birth in 1917 arising out of WWI sanctions, up to the leadership of Hughes and Solarino taking the Club from a domestic US insurer in the 90’s, to global insurer and member of the IG, with five times more tonnage and a service reach and capability leading to six offices world-wide today.  Ms. Ioannou stated that “it is the people that make all the difference”.

Marina Papaioannou (DNV-GL), Theano Kalapotharakou (ELNAVI), Elpi Petraki (ENEA Shipmanagement), Elina Kassotaki (Holland Hellenic Shipping Agencies), Angeliki Karagianni (Navia Hellas), Maria Mavroudi (The American Club), Ioanna Topaloglou (Orion International Brokers & Consultants Ltd.)

Both events which took place at the Piraeus Marine Club and Trinity House respectively attracted over 500 people when combined, with major names in both the shipowning and broking sectors in addition to the greater shipping cluster sectors.

The American Club

American Steamship Owners Mutual Protection and Indemnity Association, Inc. (the American Club) was established in New York in 1917. It is the only mutual Protection and Indemnity Club domiciled in the entire Americas and its headquarters are in New York, USA.

The Club is a member of the International Group of P&I Clubs, a collective of thirteen mutuals which together provide Protection and Indemnity insurance for some 90% of all world shipping.  In addition to full cover for Protection and Indemnity, the Club offers Freight, Demurrage and Defense as well as Charterers’ Liabilities risks. In recent years, the Club has grown and diversified its services, offering also fixed-premium solutions and H&M subsidiary insurance options.

The American Club has been successful in recent years in building on its US heritage born from the merging of all nationalities, to create a truly international insurer with a global reach second-to-none in the industry. Day to day management of the American Club is provided by Shipowners Claims Bureau, Inc. also headquartered in New York.

The American Club’s London team with the Managers of SCB Inc.

The Club is able to provide local service for its members across all time zones, communicating in eleven languages, and its Managers have subsidiary offices located in London, Houston, Piraeus, Hong Kong and Shanghai, plus a worldwide network of correspondents.

For more information, please visit the Club’s website: http://www.american-club.com/ .

P&I Insurance

Protection and Indemnity insurance (commonly referred to as “P&I”) provides cover to shipowners and charterers against third-party liabilities encountered in their commercial operations; typical exposures include damage to cargo, pollution, death/injury or illness of passengers or crew or damage to docks and other installations.

Running in parallel with a ship’s hull and machinery cover, traditional P&I cover distinguishes itself from usual forms of marine insurance by being based on the not-for-profit principle of mutuality where Members of the Club are both the insurers and the assureds.

Markos K. Marinakis (Marinakis Chartering Inc.), Lambros Varnavides (Baltic Exchange), Dorothea G. Ioannou, Joseph E.M. Hughes (The American Club)

For more information, please contact:

Dorothea Ioannou
Managing Director and Global Business Development Director
Shipowners Claims Bureau (Hellas) Inc., Piraeus office for Shipowners Claims Bureau, Inc., NY, Managers of
American Steamship Mutual Owners Mutual Protection & Indemnity Association
Tel.: +30 210 4294990 | Mob.: +30 6946 681 874

Email: Dorothea.Ioannou@scb-hellas.com

Tom Kite (Kite Warren & Wilson Ltd.-Integro), Lewis Cadji (Union Maritime), Martin Cook (Kite Warren & Wilson Ltd.-Integro), Gustavo Gomez, Brian Davies, Joseph E.M. Hughes, Niki Tiga (The American Club)

‘Road Rage’ by Madi Acharya-Baskerville.

Phantasms, road rage, feminism: among the mix in 2017 members’ show at Studio 1.1 gallery

By James Brewer

A wealth of intriguing and experimental artistic endeavour lies behind an unpretentious red door in Redchurch Street, Shoreditch. The building is a gallery entered under a lintel that like some of the neighbouring premises has become a pad for the oeuvre of an unschooled school of art, namely graffiti.

Studio 1.1 gallery at number 57a has just opened its members’ 2017 show, in which 23 emerging and established painters and sculptors put their expressive and abstract figurations on the walls and modest plinths.

A phalanx of talent explores phantasmagoria, feminism, fetishism and much more, and a sculpture of pugnacious demeanour in the first room transforms found objects into ‘road rage.’

Kelly Sweeney with Geist, Savage and All Souls.

Within walking distance of the City, Redchurch Street was in the 19^th century part of one of London’s poorest areas, but now hosts fashion outlets and chic restaurants, illustrating that the district has become too expensive for impecunious artists to rent dwellings or studios.

The artists have their redoubt in the form of the not-for-profit gallery. Set up in 2003, Studio 1.1 got going before the area turned mega-trendy and is thus nattily located to attract support. To its 2017 exhibition, each participant brought their thoughtful, palpable commentary on aspects of society and psychology. Several of the works look anything but smoothly finished – that is the way it is with contemporary conceptions, but the vigorous forms exude variously quirky realism and a dip into the preternatural.

Otherworldly is a suitable word for much of the output of London-based Kelly Sweeney, a highly articulate artist who shows a triptych of acrylics. The titles are Geist (made even more ethereal by an application of glitter), Savage and All Souls, but the panels elicit paradoxes in the viewer’s interpretive response.

Kelly accepts that the subjects of these works are “somewhat noxious – in your face.” At the same time, they are “treading that line in between alluring and disturbing, but there is an underlying sinister element to them.” They are “unsettling. You are not sure what the agenda is. They are not innocent… but there is an innocence to them.”

The Rascals. Rag, packaging, string, acrylic. By Kelly Sweeney.

The polarity in the three studies is explained by her artist’s statement: “”I have always been fascinated by the otherworldly and the idea that we can exist as something other than what we are. It is the realm of harlequins, voodoo, and fetishes.” She is drawn to the “realm of the carnivalesque and the suspended reality it creates; the figures become cast in a performance taking place somewhere in the landscape between reality and my own imaginarium.”

Kelly’s creative trajectory includes more corporeal forms, when she turns rags into artistic riches. She crafts doll-sized creatures – one such grouping from 2016 (not in the Studio 1.1 show) is called The Rascals – from painter’s rag and spare packaging lying about her studio, combined with string and acrylic.

This is sculpture along the exceptional lines of her paintings, maintaining the disturbing and uncanny element. The ragtag materials and the spontaneity of taking them up ensure that the figures are all different, but are far from ragged in nature: they are “something becoming animated that should not be. Are they about to move?” They look a little cuddly, but one wonders what is “their inner agenda.” Whatever it may be, the army of Rascals is growing…

Madi Acharya-Baskerville with ‘Road Rage.’

In an interview with Traction Magazine in 2016, Kelly, who also works with video, said that she likes the way that one discipline punctuates another, changing and influencing it,

The figures she makes “are often adorned with home-made, thrown- together costumes reminiscent of the esoteric origins of indigenous ritualistic belief systems… I like to imagine them behaving mischievously in the studio in my absence. I really hope that they do.”

With colour, “I just go through phases, as I did with fluorescent,” said Kelly. “I get quite obsessed with a palette for this and that colour, even to the way I dress.” At the Studio 1.1 private view, this artist was distinctly recognisable by her hair being of a currently favoured hue, a shade she describes as violet.

Trained at Nottingham Trent University and Chelsea School of Art, Kelly has built an impressive CV since graduating in 2014, participating in group shows, including entering a sculpture at the appropriately named Zeitgeist (a southeast London venture dissolved in April 2016); Office Sessions Part I (a London community project); Surface Gallery, Nottingham; and as a finalist for the Hix Award gaining second prize. Her first solo show Transient was at the crypt-like BSMT Gallery, Dalston, in 2016. She was shortlisted for Bloomberg New Contemporaries and awarded a Patrons’ Bursary from the University of the Arts London.

Something darkly frightening seems to be underpinning the small sculpture Road Rage by the inventive Madi Acharya-Baskerville, an Asian-born, UK-based artist.

Ever resourceful, Madi constructed Road Rage from found charred wood, found toy and mixed media, and set the menacingly robotic result for the occasion on a plinth. Just after it was completed in her studio, a friend asked: “Why don’t you give it a different title?” “I said, no! There is no way I should do that.”

Madi, who lives in London and Oxford, scours woodlands and the Dorset coast to gather cast-out and natural materials and objects, and the random finds enter what she calls a “dialogue between natural and manufactured materials.”

Marta Boros with ‘The Moon.’

In her statement, she says: “My work is concerned with the synthesis of unlikely elements. Using objects, textiles, song, conversation and magazine cuttings which resonate with me on some level, I create works which move fluidly between different media. Often materials used have had a previous life such as wooden panels previously part of furniture or embroidered fabric which has become moth-eaten, hence devoid of its original function.”

One of her recent works started out with a ‘found’ plastic table which accidentally got burned one summer evening, and which she covered with vintage fabric and entitled Those Long Hot Summers. In the fetching finished work, “pre-exiting boundaries become fused and appear as one.”

She adds: “I am interested in the disintegration of objects and materials over time and how through my intervention they can come to exist as part of something new… I want to explore the tension between natural and synthetic materials, how they can co-exist and the resulting structures can come to resemble organic, sometimes alien yet recognisably human forms.”

After gaining her MA in fine art at Cardiff Institute, University of Wales, Madi has gone on to participate in shows in Oxford, London, Carmarthen, Oporto and Bonn. One of the highlights was to be among artists selected for the 2016 Royal Academy Summer Exhibition, for her sculpture of wood and found objects, entitled The Bride.

With great éclat, the feminist painter and poet Marta Boros lays out her heart and soul in the latest in her semi-autobiographical series, this episode being called The Moon – femininity in the shadow of the moon. Marta deploys bold acrylic colours and collage on canvas, as she calls in aid flamboyant manifestations of nature.

Others in the show are Sharon Swaine, Anna Courcha, Domingo Arjonilla, David Sullivan, Eugenia Cuellar, Fabienne Jacquet, Graham Carrick, Martin Gayford, Michelle Conway, Mandeep Dillon, Mia Maric, Paige Perkins, Iavor Lubimirov with Abi Box, Peter Sylveire, Rosie West, Sarah Knill-Jones, Spencer Walton, Ute Kreyman, Wayne Clough and Suzanne Holtom.

Studio 1.1 annual members’ show This Year’s Model 2017, The Human Stain, is at 57a Redchurch Street, London E2 until January 29. The gallery is open Thursdays to Sundays 12 – 6 pm or by appointment. www.studio1-1.co.uk

Trevor Fielding, the BCF’s Regulatory Affairs Manager, and Sarah Dhanda, British Marine’s Chief Officer of Membership & Services, at the launch of the DIY Safe Anti-fouling Initiative

British Marine, along with the British Coatings Federation (BCF) and Royal Yachting Association (RYA), today (Sunday 8 January 2017) kicked off the new joint DIY Safe Anti-fouling Initiative with a public launch event at the London Boat Show 2017.

The Show’s thousands of visitors will be among the first to learn from this awareness scheme which aims to inform and educate boat owners of the hazards associated with antifouling their boats. It also details the appropriate Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) required to ensure that antifouling (AF) paints are being used properly.

This new initiative follows over a year’s work by the BCF Marine Coatings Group, including the undertaking of the most comprehensive survey exploring the DIY use of antifouling paints in the UK. Though the survey found that more than 90% of boat owners were safely antifouling their vessels, it displayed a number of areas for improvement, such as better guidance on preparing the boat and disposing of waste paint.

In response, these three industry associations joined forces to create an array of promotional and advisory tools. They range from in-depth, step-by-step guidance documents for individual owners to awareness posters to be displayed across the nation’s network of marinas, chandlers and boatyards, all of which were unveiled at the London Boat Show today.

Ross Wombwell, Technical Manager at British Marine, commented: “British Marine is proud to be supporting this initiative with its industry counterparts. This is a campaign which promotes safety whilst boating and provides guidance which is easy to follow, ensuring peace of mind for all current and future boat owners and the industry as a whole.”

Emma Barton, Planning and Environmental Manager at the Royal Yachting Association (RYA), said: “It’s important to know that antifouling paints are being used properly and that boat owners are aware of the potential hazards associated with antifouling their boats. The DIY Safe Antifouling Initiative 2017 will help to raise awareness of those hazards and to highlight the importance of using the appropriate Personal Protective Equipment.”

To find out more, or to download any of these tools, visit www.safeantifouling.com.

At last! The New Year has begun and plans are already in full swing to make LISW17 bigger, better and more popular than ever.

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[L-R: At the London Boat Show today - Howard Pridding, Chief Executive Officer at British Marine; Peter Earp, Owner of English Braids/Marlow Ropes; Mark Garnier MP, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Department for International Trade; Richard Edge, Sales Director for Marlow Ropes; David Pougher, President of British Marine]

This visit follows a recent meeting that British Marine and its members held recently with the Department for International Trade to discuss what support government can give the industry. Representatives from 10 member companies met with the Minister in Westminster to discuss the development of future overseas markets, priorities for the sector and how to maintain high skill levels in the marine industry to ensure its continuing growth.

During his visit to the Show, Minister Garnier, MP for Wyre Forest, met with British Marine members Seaglaze, Marlow Ropes and English Braids, Williams Jet Tenders and Princess Yachts. The Minister also took time to speak with students taking part in the Superyacht UK Young Designers Competition before heading on to meet with several delegates that took part in the British Marine ‘Meet the Buyer’ programme.  Meet the Buyer, in association with IBI and UK Trade & Investment (UKTI), held at the London Boat Show from 12-13 January, is an annual event offering UK suppliers of marine products and services a chance to network with a range of buyers, from overseas boatbuilders to distributors, who are flown in from across the globe.

International Trade Minister Mark Garnier said: “The London Boat Show is an iconic event that provides a vital platform to showcase the very best of British marine engineering and manufacturing.

“Our UK marine industry is world-class, with the superyacht and leisure marine sector alone generating over £895 million each year, almost a third of total UK marine export revenue. The Department for International Trade will continue to work with British Marine to support this sector by helping new and existing exporters to realise their international potential.

Howard Pridding, Chief Executive Officer said: “We were delighted to continue our working relationship with Mark Garnier MP by welcoming him here to the Show. Member companies have taken the chance to further the Minister’s understanding of the strength of this £3.01bn industry, which has just announced a fifth consecutive year of growth.

“Our industry has a strong export record and I welcomed the opportunity to brief the Minister at a time when the Government is developing an industrial strategy and to further discuss how we can work collaboratively with Government to continue this export success.”

About British Marine

British Marine (the trading name of British Marine Federation Limited) is a membership organisation leading the UK leisure, superyacht and small commercial marine industry. It has over 1,600 members drawn from both seagoing and inland sectors and represents an industry employing more than 31,500 people in the UK. For more information about the work of British Marine and how to join, please visit the website: www.britishmarine.co.uk.

Denise Moreno in Salome

Theatre Lab’s spellbinding production of Oscar Wilde’s Salome, comes to London’s historic Hoxton Hall later this month.

This acclaimed visual spectacle, which evokes the soul of its flamboyant writer, Oscar Wilde, will play the recently beautifully restored Hoxton Hall from January 31.

This is the company’s fifth production of Salome. It premiered as a site-specific performance in December 2012 at the Old Cholmeley Boys’ Club, a decadent underground Victorian building in London.

Since then it has toured to Cabaret Voltaire, Athens in 2013, Festival D’Avignon in July 2014 and Thessaloniki in October 2014.

The show has been praised for its eccentric and decadent portrayal of what was, at one time, a forbidden play. It revels in its characters’ complexities and contradictions, the complicity of desire and pleasure, and darker emotions, and the tragic consequences of excess.

Director Anastasia Revi sets Salome in the 1930s where King Herod is celebrating his birthday in style with a sumptuous banquet.

CAST: Denise Moreno, Konstantinos Kavakiotis, Helen Bang, Matthew Wade, Tobias Deacon, Benoit Gouttenoire, Annabelle Brown.

Salome runs at Hoxton Hall, East London, from January 31 – February 11.

Howard Pridding, Brienc Morin and Jonathan Fielding at the London Boat S.how

An agreement has been made between the UK’s South West and Northern French marine businesses in a bid to boost tourism amid the uncertainties surrounding Brexit.

British Marine South West (BMSW), which represents 200 marine members in the region, and the Association des Ports de Plaisance de Bretagne (APPB), which represents 70 marinas and ports in Northern France, signed the Memorandum of Understanding at the London Boat Show on Thursday 12th January.

The initiative encourages the sharing of relevant information, maritime culture and maritime tourism between the two areas at a time of significant change.

Jonathan Fielding, Chairman of BMSW, said: “This agreement enables both regions to work closely on minimising the negative aspects of Brexit. Together we can encourage boat owners to travel between the UK’s South West region, Northern France and the Channel Islands regardless of the final outcome of Brexit. This new relationship will powerfully promote what we know to be the finest cruising ground in Northern Europe.”

The project aims to develop a common framework for the sustainable growth of the nautical sector in the two regions before and after Brexit. It will also enable British and French marina members to work together to share best practices and to encourage growth and future investment.

Brieuc Morin, General Secretary of the APPB said: “Our new relationship will enable us to further promote tourism in both regions. We are committed to making Channel crossings as easy as possible by initiatives such as sharing more information about marinas and hope to see a significant increase in numbers of boats travelling for leisure between Northern France and the UK’s South West.”

The project has already started with a research survey of boat owners’ requirements being conducted by students from Université de Bretagne Sud in both the UK and France. The results of this survey will assist in the formation of further specific objectives and form the basis of data for grant funding.

A view from the opening

On Thursday, Coffee Island celebrated the opening of their first store in London’s Covent Garden. The ceremony involved a number of presentations on coffee blends and the company’s unique approach to coffee roasting and production. The shop itself is located on a busy spot in Upper St. Martin’s Lane, benefiting from an impressive fitout work carried out by UK based greek contractor ErgonBuild.

Providing a beautiful open space, the industrial design blends in with the store’s products in a minimalist way making the coffee tasting experience even more pleasant.

…

ErgonBuild is currently involved in a number of projects both in Greece and in the UK, in the fields of construction and residential property development.

What a lively crowd

A team from ERGONBuild with Coffee Island’s CEO Konstantinos Konstantinopoulos in centre stage… To his right are Thanos Koutroulis and Elias Prezerakos; to his left, Michalis Kamvissis and George Tsatsos

Marine Data Management Awareness Course

Wednesday 8 February 2017  |  One Birdcage Walk, London, SW1H 9JJ

Data is the new global currency and a vital asset for success in any market or venture today. Accordingly, a solid understanding of data management is crucial for anyone using marine data.

This course looks at how effective data management can improve efficiency in data acquisition, storage, analysis and re-use.

Topics include: the data life-cycle data and metadata standards co-ordinate reference systems data quality and publishing challenges faced in achieving data management best practice This course contributes to your CPD (Continuing Professional Development) and will provide an invaluable insight for anyone involved in collecting, managing, using or publishing marine data. Secure your place now Members: £250 + VAT Non-Members: £300 + VAT Register

Tracey Crouch MP and Saskia Clark MBE; Right image:

British Marine, the membership organisation for the UK leisure, superyacht and small commercial marine industry, welcomed Tracey Crouch MP, Minister for Sport, Tourism and Heritage to the London Boat Show yesterday (Thursday 12 January).

The Minister met with British Marine members and exhibitors to discuss a variety of issues. Speaking with Rockley Watersports and Bisham Abbey Sailing School, the MP for Chatham and Aylesford learnt how British Marine and its members are encouraging and enabling participation in a wide range of on water activities, promoting an active lifestyle. The Minister saw first-hand the enjoyment watersports can provide with young people having a go on the specially built pool at the Show.

Tracey Crouch also met with Richardsons Leisure which represents boating tourism on the inland waterways. This sector, which contributes over £6bn to the UK economy each year, has seen excellent growth in the last year and the Minister was keen to find out more about how the industry is working to ensure this growth continues for the good of the industry and the wider UK economy.

l to r: Peter Brown, Chairman of Superyacht UK; SYUK Young Designer Christopher Karam; 2nd place Michael Hollier; Tracey Crouch MP]

Before taking the chance to meet with Olympic Gold medal winning sailor, Saskia Clark MBE, the Minister presented the annual Superyacht UK Young Designer 2017 award. Not only does the competition, in partnership with Southampton Solent University, set many of the competing students on a successful design career path, but it also ensures the longevity of British talent in design houses around the World. The winner, Christopher Karam and second placed Michael Hollier, were both students at Staffordshire University.

Sport, Tourism and Heritage Minister Tracey Crouch said: “We should be hugely proud of the boating industry here in the UK. I wanted to support the boat show, not only as Sport Minister, but also as Tourism Minister, and someone who is very proud of British design and British business.”

Howard Pridding, Chief Executive Officer for British Marine, said: “We were delighted to welcome Tracey Crouch MP to the London Boat Show as this really does encapsulate everything in her ministerial portfolio – an exciting sport, increasing tourism and excellent design.

“We were able to demonstrate the importance of the Show to both the industry and the UK economy and the role it plays in promoting watersports and its accessibility.”

For a video clip of the Minister’s tour, click here: https://youtu.be/HhK474q2qlM