Secretary’s  Report for the year 2005

Headlines

The year 2005 was characterised by consolidation and expansion of our contacts and a resolution for the organisation to step out in a new direction for the future.

EMH played an important role in drafting a proposal for the new maritime policy for the European Union, the so called ‘Green Book’.

Nine countries signed a new version of the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) in London.

A new cooperation between the Sail Training International (STI) organisation and EMH was established. EMH fully supports the STI initiative to get training ships recognised as special purpose ships (SPS).

EMH achieved membership of the European Network of National Heritage Organisations (ENNHO).

EMH also initiated contact at presidential level with the World Ship Trust.

The year round

The Executive Committee started a scrutiny of our policies with Kees Gramkow as moderator during the ExCom meeting in Andijk (NL).The outcome was presented to the Working Group in Stavanger in March.

The national members were requested to discuss the proposal with their respective national organisations. In London the Working Group decided to follow a more proactive strategy in order to raise the profile of EMH, and to take a lead in drafting European policies affecting traditional shipping.

In the Netherlands (Dordrecht) as well in the United Kingdom (London) the ExCom started to show what EMH has achieved, and to invite discussion of our policies among everyone interested in our work. Both meetings were a success and raised the profile of EMH.

In March our new national member Norway hosted the Working Group meeting in Stavanger. Jan Welde, EMH representative for Norway did a splendid job and organised an interesting program with a sailing tour through the waters around Stavanger.

During this Working Group meeting David Ralph, the 2005 chairman of the MOU Committee, explained the UK Maritime & Coastguard Agency’s

“Large Yacht Code”, as a tool to check the safety classification of all kind of yachts and traditional ships.

The Executive Committee had a very nice meeting in Switzerland where we were hosted by maritime heritage organisations around Lac Léman . Carinna Bertola, director of the Musée du Léman in Nyon and our correspondent for Switzerland was the host. The meeting was aboard different steam passenger vessels still in operating on the Lake under the auspices of the Compagnie Générale de Navigation sur le Lac Léman.

In September the Excom attended in Klaipeda (LT) the conference of the European Network of National Heritage Organisations (ENNHO). EMH contacted many other heritage associations during this conference and strengthened contacts with associations in Lithuania thanks to Mr Romaldas Adomavicius.

In November the Working Group and EC met in London hosted through  David Kew and his Hermitage Community Moorings association on board of barges on the River Thames.

The Safety Council met in Portsmouth in connection with the MOU Committee meeting in Southampton and was in La Coruna during the STI congress with the Class A forum.

A delegation of EMH attended in London the signing of the new MOU by nine countries (EE, NO, FI, SE, DK, DE, NL, UK, ES).

EMH provided the secretariat for the MOU Committee.

The Environmental Group discussed the coming proposal to ban pine tar.

 The contact list has grown to 1400 addresses in 31 countries. The tasks for the regular and financial administration increased from year to year. For the first year the office tasks were supported professionally through Mariane de Zwart.

The EMH Newsletter came out twice and was distributed to about 1400 contacts of whom 120 received the electronic version.

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.

Nine national members (Estonia, Norway, Finland, Sweden, Denmark, Germany, United Kingdom, France and the Netherlands) formed the base of our work.

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, April 2006