ICOMIA/IFBSO Congress 2019

Earlier this month the Croatian Boating Industry Association (CBIA) hosted the ICOMIA/IFBSO Congress in Split. A hugely successful event saw engaging discussions among members, great networking events and the recognition of key figures in ICOMIA recognized as honorary members. The ICOMIA/IFBSO Congress kicked off with a session of experience sharing by Marine Industry Associations. This provided a useful forum for sharing of experiences, updates and views from different segments of the industry and regions of the world. Contributing to the success was the large number of members attending this year’s Congress. The high turnout made for an especially engaging and productive event.As usual, the Congress included the meetings of ICOMIA’s Working Committees. This included the Technical Committee, who discussed among other things the next steps for NOx Tier III. The Market Intelligence Taskforce progressed actions to improve industry data in the marine industry.There was also the formation of dedicated working groups in the Environment Committee, who will each work on key topics including invasive species, end of life boats and industry messaging. At the ICOMIA Marinas Group meeting the next host of the ICOMIA World Marinas Conference was decided. Details will be made public once a formal relationship has been established with the host.Workshops on boat registration and advocacy, as well as the CBIA national morning,  were an opportunity for the discussion of pertinent industry topics. These workshops will empower ICOMIA members to have a more powerful voice and work collaboratively on improving the global marine industry.  The ICOMIA Annual General meeting involved the appointment of new Committee members, updates from ICOMIA’s partner shows METSTRADE and IBEX, and the ICOMIA website launch. Geert Dijks, HISWA, was made Chair of the Grow Boating Committee, whilst Stefano Pagani, UCINA, was elected as Vice-Chair of the Exports Committee. Thom Dammrich and Denis Ricard stepped down from the Executive Committee, whilst Sebastian Nietupski, President of POLBOAT, was newly elected as new Executive Committee member.Honorary memberships were awarded to Dr Thom Dammrich, who will retire from NMMA this year, and Dr Jouko Huju, who retired from Finnboat last year. At the gala dinner, ICOMIA took the time to thank Dr Dammrich for his services to ICOMIA; Goetz-Ulf Jungmichel, outgoing IFBSO President, for his work in fostering a great ICOMIA-IFBSO relationship and Nick Hopkinson, who retires from IBI magazine this year and has worked closely with ICOMIA for the past 50 years.The ICOMIA/IFBSO Congress closed with the customary handing of the obelisk from current hosts CBIA to future hosts, CBITA and CCYIA. Congress 2020 will be held in Zhuhai, China. Udo Kleinitz, Secretary General of ICOMIA said: “Thank you so much to CBIA, who put on a wonderful Congress and facilitated this important event in the ICOMIA calendar. Undoubtedly our members were able to share experience and knowledge and coordinate important work for our industry. I’d like to thank our members for attending this year and look forward to meeting with them again next year in China”. Click for more information on the Croatian Boating Industry Association (CBIA).Click for more information on 2020 hosts CBITA and CCYIAClick for more information on ICOMIA.