I must start on a sad note.

On 14th December Bengt Molin died. Most of you will remember Bengt with affection remembering his 9 years (from 85 to 94) as Secretary of IMIF. He was a great colleague despite the fact that I found it hard day by day to figure out from his lugubrious expression whether he was happy or sad. He always assured me that he was in the jolliest of form.

Among all other activities he came on several of our Far East evangelistic missions and was a very popular fellow traveller.

I tried hard to cure him of his one bad vice which was to smoke cigarettes like a Swedish Factory Chimney. I failed conspicuously. He died at the, in my view , young age of 73. His Widow Siev is not at all in good health and we must just hope that she is coping in her solitude. The Molins were throughout a long married life very close.

I have now reached my 50th year in Shipping - in fact 56th if the RN period and Cambridge were added - and can scarce remember a more dramatic period than the last 12 months. I somewhat gloomily forecast in my last letter of August 2001 that things were looking bad and very different from the euphoria of 2000. Then came "9.11" as the US calls it. The basic ingredient for a collapse in rates - overtonnaging in all sectors with many new building orders yet to be delivered - was already in place. The new ingredient which followed that dreadful day was a dramatic collapse in Consumer Confidence which immediately affected the already beleaguered container trades and of course cruising. The Bulk and Tanker markets followed. "9.11" was no more than a catalyst bringing forward the evil day.

A report on our activities recent and proposed follows this letter but I would summarise IMIF's immediate objectives as follows:

1. Doing further work on encouraging scrapping. The legitimate concerns of Greenpeace and other ecologists must be faced and dealt with. Recycling is an immediate necessity from point of view both of improving the supply situation and of safety / ecology.
2. Bringing about a balanced approach to the rumbling debate on Ship Safety. There are unseemly arguments developing involving Flag States, Classification Societies, IACS, owners, builders (poor inadequate scantling strength vessels), EU vs IMO, etc etc which need to be reconciled. "Transparency" is another live issue.
3. Encouraging a better understanding of just how great is the contribution of all the Maritime Industries Worldwide to our way of life.

I shall be lunching soon with the UK Shipping Minister, David Jamieson and will discuss these and other matters with him so far as they concern the UK.

We also have set up a special committee to address the possible problems of the Basel II Committee of the G10 Countries. This Capital adequacy demand could have a potentially profound effect on the availability of bank finance for fleet replacement / modernisation.

The working buffet lunches are continuing, listed elsewhere and the date of "The Dinner" is fixed as 6th November. We shall have to ask the Inn on the Park to knock a wall down.

Finally, our finances remain precarious in that the 2002 forecast indicates a loss. We have done our very best to cut back on all expenses and do not see what more can be done. The introduction, of say new full members would solve our financial problems at one stroke. Can each one of you please try to raise an additional member…. Then we would be in great shape and able to undertake more evangelising trips, particularly to the Far East, as we did in the past.