Seaways - August 2022

Every two years, the AGM is a moment of particular significance as we hand over the Presidency – this time to Captain Andre Legoubin, following two years in the role by Jillian Carson-Jackson. Thank you to all those who joined on-line making this our ‘biggest ever’ AGM, sharing in the delights of a bespoke music creation commissioned by Jillian, celebrating 50 years of the NI, and hearing reflections from Presidents past  and new. Let me come back to events in Plymouth a little later.

Making connections; sharing support

Our Annual General Meeting and technical conference was a great credit to all those 
involved in the planning, implementation and coordination of events in Plymouth. 
It is with great appreciation I say thank you to the SW England branch for all of their preparations. Outstanding.

Members in Ukraine

In recent weeks we have held several conversations and discussions with our Branch members in Ukraine. We continue to work with our members and other stakeholders to see how we can help at a practical level.

We have made a number of introductions through these conversations and hope we will be able to help seafarers in and from Ukraine, whether members or not, continue their professional development activities and career progression. We have also created a dedicated section on our website bringing together resources that are useful reference documents in relation to events in and around Ukraine.

Our best wishes remain with those in the country and we hope for a speedy end to hostilities and the dreadful attacks on the country.  https://www.nautinst.org/resource-library/welfare-and-support/ukraine.html

Meeting members

It is always a pleasure to welcome members to NI Headquarters and I was delighted to meet Captain Marso Law from the Hong Kong branch during his visit to London. We had not met since our Annual General Meeting in Hong Kong so it was a happy reunion. 

As well as a tour of HQ, I was able to show Captain Marso the headquarters of the International Maritime Organisation and a local Victorian riverside hostelry. 

Celebrating service

We were honoured to have the presence of Her Royal Highness the Princess Royal during the afternoon of the Plymouth event. Her Royal Highness had the opportunity to meet with around 30 delegates.

Having listened to a presentation on the future of autonomy and the review of the voyage by the Mayflower earlier this year, Her Royal Highness presented awards of Honorary Fellowship to Bridget Hogan and Distinguished Service to Robert McCabe 
and Paul Wright.

Thereafter a personal presentation of the Past President’s plate and pin were made to Immediate Past President Jillian Carson-Jackson before The Princess Royal delivered an insightful speech on maritime matters. See page 22 onwards for a full report from this conference, and the excellent ice navigation event hosted by the British Columbia Branch.

Looking forward we have more technical sessions in our NI 50th series starting with Singapore on 1 September, followed by Western Australia on 16 September and our Iberia branch event in Lisbon on 21 September. Please check out the details on our NI 50th website or drop me a line – john.lloyd@nautinst.org