Dear colleagues,
I wanted to send you my usual greetings for Christmas and the New Year.

It has been a very busy year for the Institute and the activities of the branches has been most notable and well reported in Seaways. I am delighted that many of your branches are organizing high profile and professionally stimulating seminars addressing issues of real concern to seafarers and the industry. The success of the Institute in helping to provide practical solutions to such issues is well known and is increasingly appreciated by the authorities within the industry, and the branches are an essential part of that success. Many branches are also continuing to provide a regular programme of technical meetings and other events for the membership and these are an important benefit of belonging to the Institute as they provide continuous professional development and networking opportunities. Thank you for all this worthwhile effort, I know from my time in the London Branch how much time, effort and dedication it takes to run a branch and organize such programmes. I am also conscious of how dispiriting it can be when the majority of the members do not take an active part or even turn up to an event organized for them. We will continue to work with you all to address this long standing and perplexing issue.

You will have seen from the Council papers and various reports in Seaways that next year will be a very busy and important one for the Institute as we prepare the next Strategic Plan for the period 2006-2011. The President’s Question will be in January’s Seaways together with a challenging article from him. We would like all branches to submit a completed questionnaire from the branch, in consultation with their membership if possible, as well as encouraging all members to complete one individually. The returns will be analyzed and a draft Plan written. This will be considered by Council’s Committees and eventually Council but we will also be discussing it with as many branches as possible during visits for seminars and the like. The feedback gained will be most important in refining the Plan into a workable strategy and one which the branches can feel real ownership of — as you will certainly be part of the implementation process.

I shall hope to see many of you during the year during the Command Seminar series, which will see the seminar being held in Oslo, Plymouth, Mumbai, Singapore and Houston from June through to November, and at other events. It will be an extremely busy year for us all but I am confident that together we will make it a very successful one.

With best wishes for Christmas
and the New Year,
Philip Wake Chief Executive