Secretary’s  Report for the year 2004

Headlines

In 2004 the fifth EMH congress took place in Karlskrona, Sweden. Besides all the work during the years the congresses are the reflection and meeting points for all who are interested in preserving and sailing the traditional fleet. Thanks to the efforts and hospitality of the Marinmuseum the congress was a success.  The congress was under the patronage of Mrs Loyola de Palacio, Vice-president of the European Commission.

Norway signed the MoU and Estonia joined EMH as full member. EMH introduced “Regional Membership” that will make it easier in some states to join EMH and to participate.

It was the last year that Anders Berg held its sway and he received a ship carpenter’s adze as a symbol of shaping EMH during the last ten years. Anders Berg accepted from the General Assembly the position of Honorary President.

The year round

The highlight of this year was our triennial congress in Karlskrona during the Baltic Sail event. Our host the Swedish Maritime Museums offered a well organised congress and social program. Topics as how to make the floating heritage available to the public, threats to traditional maritime skills and the merits and hazards of building  replicas were discussed. Some national registers were compared and there was a debate about the announced ban of pine tar.

The Executive Committee met five times: in Gdansk, Copenhagen, Karlskrona, Tallinn and Hamburg. Anders Berg retired halfway through the year from his position as President. For his genial and positive way of leadership he was honoured as Honorary President / Président d’Honneur during the General Assembly meeting in Karlskrona. Michael vom Baur, Hendrik Boland, John Robinson and Thedo Fruithof were elected as the new Executive Committee for the next three years. They divided their tasks respectively as President (MvB), Treasurer and Vice-president (HB), Minutes Secretary (JR) and Secretary (TF).

The EMH archive was moved to the office in Holland.

Members of the Executive Committee had many contacts in Europe to broaden the network.

A network that has grown to 1250 addresses in 31 countries. ExCom meetings hosted by Poland and Estonia provided the opportunity for exchanging knowledge and to consolidate the relationship. Operating traditional ships as an important part of our maritime heritage is an issue throughout Europe.

The alliance with the Sail Training International was strengthened and EMH participated in their annual meeting in Newcastle on Tyne.

In early spring the Working Group was invited by the Danes and met on board the schooner “Lilla Dan” in Copenhagen. The next meeting was during the congress in Karlskrona and the third meeting took place again on board a ship, the steam vessel “Scharhorn” in Hamburg.

Thanks to the help of the Deutsches Schifffahrt Museum in Bremerhaven the text of the Barcelona Charter together with a Commentary were printed in a nice booklet and distributed for the first time during the congress. It was sent to all advisory members and other interested people for a further implementation in our cultural field.

The Safety Council met once in Ostend.  There were two meetings of the MoU Committee (Gothenburg and Stockholm) attended by EMH as observer. The members of the Safety Council had informal contacts in preparing these meetings. EMH provided the secretariat for the MoU Committee, chaired this year by Sweden.

Norway signed the MoU as eighth country, as Finland, Sweden, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, United Kingdom and Spain had done before.

For the inland waterways in Europe new regulations are being considered. The Shipping Rhine Rules form the basis for them. A new EMH Council was set up to give early consideration to solutions for traditional ships. This Inland Waterways Council was launched through a German initiative.

The Policy Group completed its work and dissolved itself.

The Environmental Group makes slow progress on the spread of teredo navalis in the Baltic. New threats were discussed such as sulphur emission from steam engines and the coming proposal to ban pine tar. 

The EMH Newsletter came out twice and was distributed to about 1250 contacts of whom 110 received the electronic version.

The EMH contact list grew this year by about 100 contacts to 1250.

The website was our principal communication tool. With an important list of links and events, beside official documents and all the newsletters it shows what is going on.

The Baltic state Estonia became a new member, joining Finland, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, UK and France to form the base of EMH as national members. There are regular contacts in several other countries.

Fourteen advisory members supported the EMH.  The maritime museums in Dunkirk, Enkhuizen, Rotterdam and Amsterdam, Antwerp, Barcelona, Bremerhaven, Greenwich, Helsingør, Helsinki, Liverpool, London, Paris, San Sebastian, Stockholm / Karlskrona, and the Skibsbevaringsfond of Denmark supported our work

There were three associate members:  Sail Training International (STI), Maritieme Site Oostende (MSO) and the Sammenslutningen af Mindre Erhvervsfartøjern (SME) of Denmark.

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

 The Secretary

Andijk, 6^th March 2005