One of our members recently suggested to run informal regional events. As we have our flagship event in London every May, it was felt that we should also try to focus on our membership in other regions as well.
Ekkehard Stade, SOMWS Chair, visited Abu Dhabi earlier this month and invited our ME membership base to an informal evening. As we know how busy we are and due to the short notice, we did not expect too much of a turnout. However, we are really pleased to report that we had members from Global maritime, ABL, DNV, BVS and Aries attending the evening. We also had a member of the screening committee attending. The evening turned out to be a success, lively discussions on the state of the industry, SOMWS and its way forward and how we can make things better for the industry. It was great to see that people, who are otherwise fierce competitors, engaged in discussions on how to create a stronger awareness of the value we provide to all stakeholders of the industry. There was strong agreement of the group that the MWS service is not adequately rewarded by the insurance industry and their clients given the commercial risk faced by MWS in protecting the interests of underwriters.
The event was seen as a success by all attending and this gives us the confidence to run some more during this year. Potential dates spring to mind is alongside Wind Energy Hamburg, HMEIC Houston and Marine Insurance Asia in April. We will reach out to the respective membership of the regions in due course.