IMPA Report: PIANC Meeting

December 9th, 2008 by JCB
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IMPA Report: Meeting 8 of PIANC working group 49

As the UKMPA’s IMPA representative I am involved with The Permanent International Association of Navigation Congresses (PIANC) working group 49. This group is concerned with the review of the 1997 working group 30 report titled “Approach Channels – A guide for Design”.  This is the design bible used by many authorities when considering a new or modified port channel or fairway.

Hosted by the Le Havre port authority (PAH) through their senior engineer, Paul Scheerer (who also represents the International Association of Ports & Harbours on the group), the meeting was well attended by 20 hydrodynamic engineers and naval architects from various countries in Europe, North America, Japan and South Africa.

PAH had also involved the Le Havre pilots into the hosting arrangements and their President, Captain Francois Le Guern, and his colleagues admirably entertained us throughout by providing lunches on both days and a superb dinner at the Société des Régates du Havre yacht club on the first evening. They joined us for the meeting itself on day 1 which ended with a visit to the Le Havre pilots’ training simulator following a short bus tour of the port area.

The port visit itself was much enjoyed by the party not least because most of those present rarely if ever get the chance for a close up view of ships and the inside workings of the ports they design!  Food for thought…

As usual the proceedings of the meeting were concerned with erudite debate and discussion on various technical aspects of the document under review. Many sections have been re-written or enhanced with all members, including myself making contributions pertaining to their fields of expertise.

It has been agreed with IMPA HQ that meeting 9 will be hosted by IMPA aboard HQS Wellington, at this stage over May 21st and 22nd 2009.  I will be seeking some financial assistance from HR Wallingford to offset the cost of the venue and hopefully we will be able to get other forms of assistance from elsewhere.

The enthusiasm with which IMPA (through myself and most recently the Le Havre pilots) has been welcomed by the working group is strong testament of the need for us to take advantage of every opportunity to be involved in the background workings of port operations and not only on the front line aboard ships.

For example, IMPA has also been involved in the PIANC MarCom Working Group 54 which is dealing with the “Use of Hydro/Meteo information for Port Access and Operations”. Nigel Allen (Southampton) is working with this group and the working title indicates how important its work is from a pilotage perspective.

Don Cockrill