March 2006

It is quite possible that some of you, my good and loyal friends and members of IMIF, especially those of you who were not able to attend November's IMIF 30th Anniversary Dinner, may not be aware that a very short while before that auspicious occasion it was discovered in the course of a routine medical check-up that I needed immediate surgery to hopefully correct a potentially life-threatening condition. Not wishing to completely abandon my obligations towards the Dinner guests I took the opportunity to pre-record a short version of my Annual speech and on the night it was screened to what I am now advised was a generally appreciative audience. Those of you who might like to witness my pre-operative thoughts will be able to do so by logging on www.imif.org on which website the speech now appears, thanks to the brave efforts of Paul Dixon, husband of IMIF member Maria Dixon. Paul has over the years assembled and organized our website at no cost to IMIF, for which I thank him. We are lucky to have such friends.

It is a truism that when one has been blessed with good health for all of one's life the shock of discovering that one is after all not indestructible is a great one. It certainly was for me, though I am happy to report that "recovery" from that October major surgery which already has extended over three months is slowly progressing. It is an adjustment to a new life style however particularly in regard to eating where my new digestion process dictates that I must eat "little and often" - in other words graze like a cow! Six meals a day sounds gross, but each is very small!

This is a rather boring topic but I feel I do owe some information to you, our patient and loyal supporting members. I was delighted of course that the Dinner was a success which was no surprise with Peter Cowling and our devoted team in charge.

The fact remains however that I am putting in "part time" appearances in the office and with the miracle of today's communications can keep fully abreast on a daily basis. In a few weeks, after yet another quick holiday (about which I am suitably ashamed!) I hope to be back more or less full-time. Meanwhile Ian Bouskill is busy arranging the next series of lunches once he has paired speakers and venues and also an IMIF Shipping Bankers' Forum which Gordon Hall of Norton Rose has kindly offered to host again. Incidentally if any member has views on a particular topic or speaker that we should invite for these lunches do please let me know.

This is just an interim Newsletter but I would like to revert to two particular topics, both fully interdependent on each other - first, the structure and aims of IMIF and second, that most unpalatable of topics - Finances.

Before my unexpected operation I had called together a small crisis committee to discuss both of these topics. I should very much like to re-activate some of the IMIF Committees under an appropriate Committee chairman to promote IMIF's message in different parts of the maritime industries. He or she would then report back to the Steering Committee. We have a sufficient number of members of like expertise in particular areas of the industry including lawyers, P&I members, flag registries, shipowners and managers and of course bankers and financiers to establish such committees. In the true spirit of IMIF's impartial commitment to the financial well­being of the international maritime environment these committees could undertake whatever actions were deemed to be necessary in challenging such threats to our industry as they deemed appropriate. Some of you may recall that Otto Norland undertook just such a mission when the International P&I Group were experiencing certain problems in the market and he was thanked heartily for his efforts in that area. Over the years IMIF has been keenly involved in the tricky area of shipbreaking (sorry "recycling") along with its financial and environmental consequences and we retain good contacts in India, China and Holland. This is clearly an area where our international contacts could be put to good use. I shall be discussing this further with the crisis committee shortly.

As to the finances Ian is meticulously analyzing the year just gone and contemporaneously budgeting for 2006. It will not surprise you to know that we are perilously, maybe more than ever, close to the line. Some of our revenue has fallen away. Through mergers and takeovers we have lost certain of the banks or have lost a particular contact within a bank. I am hopeful that with the resumption of the IMIF Shipping Bankers' Forum, the next meeting of which will, I now gather, be led by Michael Parker of Citigroup, we may be able to persuade some of them to return to the fold. The great advantage of the IMIF Shipping Bankers' Forum is that delegates are, under the strict neutrality of IMIF, able to discuss anything that they consider to be causing detriment to the maritime industries in their own particular areas of expertise without fear of being accused of special pleading or self-interest. So one essential necessity now is to try and increase the membership. We are fortunate that another Michael Parker, my good friend and Chairman of Andrew Weir Shipping has not only persuaded his Board to commit that company to IMIF membership but has also brought in another full member wearing another of his Board hats in the shape of the CMA CGM group.

We have kept expenditure to the absolute bare minimum. I mentioned to you in a previous Newsletter that we were in negotiations with our landlord, the Baltic Exchange, to see if they could find any way to assist us with our tenancy at the Baltic and I am pleased to be able to say that they have come up with some very good solutions that have helped ease our plight considerably in that area. I shall not go into financial details yet until all the expenditure figures have been confirmed and scrutinized and discussed with the crisis committee but at present it does not take any exceptional accounting ability to forecast that we are currently en route to yet another deficit - and this in spite of a devoted but significantly underpaid support staff of one and a half. Ian has been working four and sometimes five days a week (part of it unpaid) to assist while my P/A Jennifer works 3 days a week.

What are we going to do about it? Well, I do have some ideas, as do the crisis committee members, for possible ways forward, including as I have mentioned vigorously reactivating committees and I have some thoughts concerning the next Annual Dinner, scheduled to take place by the way this year on 8 November.

I would like to offer my special thanks to all those members who have so kindly and generously and regularly hosted the IMIF buffet luncheons and I look forward to seeing as many of you as possible at the luncheons which have been arranged this year.

Jim D