Secretary’s  Report for the year 2003

EMH has continued its journey after ten years life. In two thousand and three the topics were the signing of the Barcelona Charter on board the frigate Jylland, the establishment of a secretariat for the MoU committee through the Safety Council and the creation of an Environmental Group. We lost this year our Président d’Honneur Jacques Chauveau.

What happened?

The Executive Committee met four times, in Ebeltoft, Figeholm, Ostende and Barcelona. Hendrik Boland attended and supported these meetings.

Members of the Executive Committee took part in the Mediterranean Maritime Heritage Forum (AMMM) in Palermo and the Interim ICMM congress in Falmouth and the Europa Nostra Awards meeting in Brussels.

There were many important contacts, for example with IMO, ICOMOS and Europa Nostra.

The Working Group met in spring at the interesting wharf in Ebeltoft and in the autumn in the EMH Mediterranean focal point: the partly refurbished Museu Maritim Drassanes in Barcelona.

The efforts of the Cultural Council were rewarded with the signing of the Barcelona Charter on board frigate Jylland . A Commentary on this Charter has been prepared. A French , German and Danish translation is available on the EMH website

The Safety Council met in Oslo, Ebeltoft and in conjunction with the MoU Commission meeting in Spain ( Palma, Majorca). The fruitful contacts with the Ship Authorities resulted in a MoU Secretariat in Sweden for the year 2003-3004 through EMH Safety Council.

The Policy Group organised their activities through mail contacts and the Environmental Group is still under formation.

The EMH Newsletter came out three times thanks to Ole Vistrup and was distributed to about 1150 contacts. Around 100 contacts received the newsletter by email.

The EMH contact list is updated and 1171 contacts are at the end of the year the bases for our network.

The hits on the website are constantly increasing, not only from Europe but also from the United States. The European Event Calendar showed around 200 events in the different countries. Several links are made to maritime organisations.

In July we lost our friend Jacques Chauveau, John Robinson represented EMH at his funeral in Brittany. He was an example of a great animator for the maritime heritage.

Who are the actors?

In 2003 eight members supported as full member of EMH. The new member Finland joined the group of national representatives. Denmark, France, Germany, The Netherlands, Norway, Sweden and United Kingdom still maintain their support.

There are 15 advisory members sustaining EMH. New members are the maritime museums: Musée Portuaire, Dunkirk (FR),  Zuiderzeemuseum, Enkhuizen (NL),  and Maritiem Museum Rotterdam (NL) besides the museums in Amsterdam, Antwerp, Barcelona, Bremerhaven, Greenwich, Helsingør, Helsinki, Liverpool, London, Paris, San Sebastian, Stockholm / Karlskrona, and the Skibsbevaringsfond of Denmark.

The four Associate Members were:  the European Steamboat Federation (ESF), Sail Training International (STI), Maritime Site Oostende (MSO) and the Sammenslutningen af Mindre Erhvervsfartøjern (SME) of Denmark.

Thanks to all organisations who hosted and supported the different EMH meetings and contacts and helped to keep the traditional fleet in operation.  

The Secretary.

Andijk, 25^th of March 2003