Annual Report 2021
2. Report by the Chairman, Michiel Starmans on the past year of the Association Since taking office in May 2020, it has of course been a most extraordinary year with the Pandemic putting nearly all Association events on hold. Nevertheless, the Committee of Management has continued to undertake the day-to-day business via virtual meetings hosted on Zoom. Although not as pleasant as actually meeting up in person, it has at least allowed us all to see each other and discuss ongoing matters. I very much hope we can all meet in person in the forthcoming twelve months; and indeed, that I may be able to meet with many Members also. Before summarising the various topics that are on-going, I would like to thank Richard Cornah for producing the special annual report commemorating the Association’s 150 years. You will all have received a link to this report, and I am sure join me in congratulating Richard for such a celebratory report, which in his words he described as a Bumper Beano Edition. There were 52 kind messages of congratulation from Honorary Fellows, Adjusters’ Associations, Lloyd’s, Insurers, Salvors, Shipowners, Arbitrators, Solicitors, Brokers and many more from all over the world, and my thanks go to Ann Waite for co-ordinating that aspect. Sadly, I have to report the death of Jeff Allen in late 2020. Many of you will remember Jeff who spent his whole adjusting career with ER Lindley/Richards Hogg Lindley, having joined Lindleys 50 years or so ago. He qualified as a Fellow in 1979 and was Chairman of the Association in 1993; the title of his annual address being ‘A Touch of Class’. In his address, Jeff highlighted the draconian nature of warranties included in the new Classification Clauses in hull policies. As a final note, he referred to the crazy boom days in the financial markets of the 1980’s, when qualifications counted for little, and the quick dollar was all that seemed to matter. He continued by stating that if there is one clear lesson to be learned from the mistakes made in the last decade it is that insurance is a serious, technical business and the industry has got to get back to high standards and an important part of this process will be the allocation of resources to training and qualifications. I am confident that Jeff would have been pleased to note that the Association with its qualified membership has done just that in line with his warning remarks expressed in 1993. The 9th April 2021 was a sad day, when Britain lost HRH Prince Philip at the age of 99. The Duke of Edinburgh was married to Queen Elizabeth II for 73 years and will be remembered for his charitable work, his dedication to public service and his controversial sense of humour. Now to report on what has, and has not, happened during the last year. Events Well, as you will all know, just about everything in the last twelve months has been affected by the Pandemic so I have extraordinarily little to report. The following were all cancelled: • • • • • •
32nd General Assembly of the Association Mondiale de Dispacheurs at Oslo in September US & Canadian Association annual meeting and dinner in October BMLA dinner in November UK Chamber of Shipping dinner in February ISU dinner in March AAA Annual Conference and dinner 4
