International Harbour Masters' Association

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The International Harbour Masters' Association (IHMA) was formed in June 1996 with more than 250 members in 52 countries worldwide. Membership now encompasses almost 80 nations and extends throughout Western and Eastern Europe, Australasia, Africa, The Americas, The Middle East and Asia Membership consists of harbour masters from ports large and small, publicly and privately owned, and represents a unique source of up-to-date, hands-on expertise in a range of maritime operations, including: safety of navigation, vessel traffic control and monitoring, port management, protection of the marine environment, the ship/port interface, cargo handling and safe stowage, safety management and training, and the good practice of seamanship in port and harbour environs. Widely acknowledged as a competent partner in the shipping and port industry world-wide, the IHMA's wealth of experience is sought after and highly appreciated in many international fora and inter-industry working groups. Consequently, the IHMA's application for observer status at the International Maritime Organization (IMO) is undergoing its last stages of appraisal and, on sucessful conclusion, will offer direct access to this important forum from later this year

far reaching consequences. On the other hand, unsafe ships may cause severe damage to port installations and/or the port environment. For centuries safety matters have been tackled piecemeal, with reliance on governments, port authorities and ship owners to prepare the necessary international and national safety regulations and standards and ensure compliance with them. While shipowners and masters are responsible for ensuring the safety of ships roaming the seas, it is the responsibility of the port authorities and their harbour masters to ensure the safety of the port and the protection of the port’s environment and installations. Developments over the last decade, or so, have shown that unfortunately neither the ports nor the ships can take this for granted anymore. It is for that reason that international bodies, such as the International Maritime Organization (IMO), the International Association of Ports and Harbours (IAPH) and the International Harbour Masters’ Association (IHMA), are looking for ways and means to improve the unsatisfactory situation that has arisen. It is especially in the field of improving safety and the protection of the environment in the ports itself and at the ship/port interface that the port authorities and their harbour masters and the national and international associations, be it port or harbour masters associations, have an important role to play. Only open discussion of identified problems, the extensive exchange of information and sharing of experience in inter-industry fora or meetings of national and international regulatory organisations, like the IMO Committees and their working groups, will result in practicable solutions. The vast experience and expertise available among harbour masters world-wide will certainly be very valuable in the deliberations of these institutions. Why a harbour masters association? Groups of people that have the same profession have often organised themselves into associations and there were always different reasons for this. Some were established to exchange expertise amongst their members and some to have a better and more structured platform for discussions with Government and other third parties. Whilst others have sought to use their influence to increase the salaries of their members. For harbour masters the latter reason has never been an issue, as this aspect was always considered to be the task of any relevant trades unions. The main objectives of a harbour masters’ association, whether national or international, has been, still is and always will be the ones clearly stipulated in the shared constitution of the International Harbour Masters’ Association (IHMA) and of the European Harbour Masters’ Association (EHMA), which is an integral part of IHMA. They include : ü promoting safe and efficient marine operations in port waters ü developing collaboration among harbour masters world-wide ü representing the views of harbour masters internationally, regionally and nationally ü promoting the professional standing of harbour masters and the interests of harbour masters generally ü collecting and distributing information of professional interest and providing other services to members. The history and the present situation explained below will give a better insight into the development of IHMA and EHMA and their way of working. National associations The Finnish Harbour Masters´ Association is most probably the oldest European national association and perhaps the world. It was established in 1936, followed by the Dutch in 1949, the Belgian in 1971, the French in 1992, the United Kingdom in 1993, and the German and Polish Associations in 1994. Overseas Harbour Master Associations have recently been founded in Australia, Canada and Southern Africa. International associations European Harbour Masters’ Association (EHMA) As early as the 1950s some Harbour Masters of the major northwest European ports met on an irregular basis to discuss matters of mutual interest and to get to know each other better. As everyone knows, it is always an advantage if you can put a face to a name when problems arise and matters need to be solved. After a break in the early 1970s, several biennial congresses of the north European Harbour Masters were held in different ports in northwest Europe, until finally the European Harbour Masters’ Association (EHMA) was created as a non-funded association on the 30th of May 1985, during a Harbour Masters’ congress in Cork, Ireland. A biennial congress and working groups, which dealt with matters of importance to Harbour Masters, were the backbone of the association. In due time, the association was recognised as a highly professional and reliable association within the shipping and port community and its advice was sought on many occasions. Close co-operation with other organisations then followed, such as IAPH, IMPA, and IALA. As any harbour master could join the association without payment of a membership fee the association quickly grew to over 130 members from 14 different European Countries. In 1992, during a congress in Bristol, it was evident that the association had to alter its status from non-funded organisation to funded, as soon as the then unpaid secretary retired. A working group was established to examine the possibilities and it soon became apparent that an association that included harbour masters world-wide could bring some very important advantages, both in terms of meeting the Association’s Objectives listed above and providing a more assured financial footing. This caused, the terms of reference of the working group to be expanded to include a thorough look at the future. Four scenarios were put forward by the working group, which ranged from retrenchment, as one extreme to expansion, to an international association, as another. As harbour masters, like almost all involved in shipping, are very conservative and don’t much like change, a middle road was found. The solution was that, for the time being, the European association would be retained as a funded organisation, but steps would be taken to assess the possibility of expansion into an international one. During the 5th EHMA Congress at Marseilles in 1994 the EHMA constitution was changed accordingly and an International Harbour Masters Association Founding Group was introduced, which was open also to harbour masters outside Europe. A committee was set up from European and overseas harbour masters to establish : ü the willingness of overseas harbour masters to join such an international organisation, ü what they would expect from it and ü to develop the required constitution A considerable task faced the Executive Committee of the EHMA at that time; to come up with a proposal and a constitution that would be accepted by the European and Overseas harbour masters. That they succeeded was apparent on the 21st of June 1996, when all members of the European Harbour Masters’ Association attending the 6th EHMA Congress in Reykjavik voted unanimously to establish an International Harbour Masters’ Association (IHMA), whilst retaining the European association as an integral part of it Each association has its own governing bodies, which, liase very closely with each other. International Harbour Masters’ Association (IHMA) The structure, aim and objectives of the international association are very much the same as those of the original EHMA. The difference in the structure is that whilst EHMA has a President , two Vice-Presidents and an Hon. Treasurer, IHMA has a President and five Vice-Presidents and an Hon. Treasurer. Four of IHMA’s seven Officers are from Europe and three from outside Europe. That is a situation that has flowed from the carefully crafted constitution. However, this is bound to change when the balance between European and Non-European members changes. An Honorary Treasurer and Secretary act jointly for both EHMA and IHMA. Both associations are active in a number of areas that are important to Harbour Masters. Presently, provision is made for 5 Working Groups dealing with: q Environmental issues q Port State Control q Recruitment, Qualification and Training of Port Marine Officers q Hydrographic matters including ECDIS (Electronic Chart display) q Vessel Traffic Services (VTS). Other matters are will be dealt with as they come along. Building on the success of previous work by the EHMA, IHMA has recently been granted observer status at the IMO and has been contributing to its proceedings since late 2000. A biennial five-day Congress, something carried forward from the EHMA, continues to provide the Associations’ most important event. Communication with members between Congresses is now generally through the newsletter “THE HARBOUR MASTER” or each country’s National Chief Representative. There is also direct communication with the members from the President, Executive Committee, the Secretary and others. Look for the contact details on this website, which is witness to the fact that information technology is playing an increasingly important part in keeping members informed. A database of their skills and expertise has been set up and is being developed further. IHMA has adopted an active policy of world-wide expansion of its membership through publicising its activities and by direct approach to Harbour Masters. The result is that the membership has grown to approximately 250 members, including sponsoring ones, from Europe, Africa, Australasia, Asia and North America/Canada. This ensures that a wide variety of expertise and experience, as well as regional knowledge, are available to members and the international maritime and port industry. It is very encouraging that both members and the industry frequently use the opportunity offered. To be even more effective it is necessary to spread the membership even further and IHMA's Executive Committee has embarked on a five-year development plan, in association with Maritime Intelligence Limited, to develop four target areas: ü Membership - to expand the numbers and geographical spread of the membership still further ü Funding - to investigate the savings and/or income that can be achieved from charitable status, grants, subsidies, etc ü Training and Events - to develop a range of goods and services of genuine value and use to harbour masters, including training programmes (video and multi-media), exhibitions, seminars and meetings. ü Media and Publications - to develop a central database containing a comprehensive source of professional information. This will be produced in either CD form or be available to members via the website, forming a desktop library of up-to-date information and data. These are interesting and exciting times for IHMA. Therefore all harbour masters and other interested parties are cordially invited to join the Association as these new developments come on stream at the start of a new Millennium.