This is my first message for IUMI Eye and I’d like to take the opportunity to thank the IUMI Council for giving me the honour to serve as their President. I would also like to give special thanks to my two predecessors, Dieter Berg and Ole Wikborg, for the hard work and dedication they have given to our Association over many years. I had the privilege of serving IUMI as an Executive Committee vice-chair between 2011 and 2015 and also being a member of the Nominating Committee before that. To be taking the helm as President is truly an honour.  I look forward to building on the achievements of Ole and Dieter and to maintain IUMI’s position as the influential voice of the marine insurance industry in the years to come.

I was delighted to see that this year’s conference in Cape Town was a great success and would like to thank the organising committee for making the first IUMI conference on African soil truly spectacular. The speakers, panelists, IUMI Professional Partners (IPPs) and delegates each play a vital role and they are all to be congratulated.  

This year, our theme was “Managing emerging risks and exposures – think the unthinkable” and I honestly believe that we could not have had a more fitting title. Marine insurance is changing, as is the shipping industry itself. We are facing an increasing array of challenges ranging from short term cyclical problems to longer term structural issues. Profitability is under pressure, brokers have developed new placement techniques, online platforms such as PPL (Placing Platform Limited) have been created and this will change the way we conduct our business.

We need to understand the impact of change and, in particular, how it affects our ability to recruit, retain and develop talent. Innovative thinking is required and we must all be receptive to doing things differently in the future.

I am looking forward to working with the new Executive Committee and Technical Committees to continue IUMI’s good work and help the industry through these challenging times. We will continue to strengthen our presence at IMO, continue to raise our profile worldwide, and continue to enrich our political and lobbying work through the excellent work of the Policy Forum. 

With colleagues, I intend to build on what IUMI has successfully accomplished so far including investing in our role as educational facilitators for the industry; developing our strength and partnership with our affiliated organisations; and continuing to grow our membership infrastructure and encouraging new members and countries to join our organisation.

I look forward to furthering IUMI’s vision and strategy and am confident that our IUMI journey over the next few years will be one of evolution not revolution.