Mehrkens, Hein

July 15th, 2005 by JCB
Posted in Obituaries | No Comments »

Hein Mehrkens

It is with sadness that we have to report that Captain Hein Mehrkens, President of IMPA, passed away peacefully at his home and in the company of his family on Sunday, 16^th May. The world of pilotage has lost a brave and skilful leader who devoted himself to the service of pilots and pilotage locally, nationally and internationally. Hein promoted his profession worldwide, always with commitment and conviction.

Hein Mehrkens was born in the Altes Land, near Hamburg, into a family of sea-going captains. He was the third generation of his family to become a pilot. In 1971 he obtained his Captain’s Certi.cate for seagoing vessels and he was also shipping inspector for his shipping company, acting as supervisor for cargo and shipbuilding. In 1981 he became an Elbe pilot and in 1991 became Chairman of the Elbe Pilots’ Association following which, in 1999, he was elected President of the Bundeslotsenkammer (BLK), the association joining the seven separate German pilot associations. Hein was elected President of IMPA in 2002 His conciliatory manner, his natural humour and depth of specialist knowledge made him respected on all the national and international boards on which he sat. IMPA General Secretary, Nick Cutmore, paid tribute to Hein stating that “IMPA has lost a particularly courageous and expert President, who gave his all when working for pilots and the pilotage throughout the world. Every one of us will miss him greatly”.

Hein had been ill since last year and had fought his disease bravely and with typical

determination by continuing to work on pilotage business up until two weeks before he died. The funeral was attended by over 600 family members, pilots, colleagues and maritime representatives including Senior Vice President (now acting President) Geoff Taylor who afterwards wrote “To say the service was both moving and impressive would be an understatement. There were two pilot choirs who sang with their hearts and voices. The superb .oral tributes from the family and his close colleagues lent the occasion further gravitas and I would suggest that no one who attended will ever forget the occasion. How sad it is that the one person we were all there to pay tribute to could not be there”.

IMPA