Taking place at Southern Sun Cape Sun Hotel which is situated at the heart of Cape Town and offers magnificent views over Table Mountain, Robben Island, Table Bay as well as the mighty Green Point Stadium, the 2012 ICOMIA/IFBSO Congress which was held in Cape Town, South Africa, between 18-21 April, reported a great success. The event was organised by the newly formed Marine Industry Association of South Africa (MIASA).
Southern Sun Cape Sun Hotel in Cape Town, South Africa
After registration on Tuesday 17 April, delegates were taken on industry site visits to view rig designers, Southern Spars; large sailing-yacht builders, Southern Wind Shipyard, and the state-of-the-art facilities at Quantum Sails, which produce sails for multihulls and keelboats. Two more industry visits followed on the Thursday at catamaran builders Robertson and Caine and Two Oceans Marine.
Congress commenced on Wednesday 18 April, and consisted of various committee meetings and the annual ICOMIA/IFBSO Joint Session was held on the Friday.
The key note speakers were Michael Lalor of Ernst and Young, who spoke about the African market; Liesl Nel of Moorings, who gave a presentation on the global charter market; Ian Calvert of Instant Grass, who discussed ‘The Emerging African Consumer’; Guy Lundy of Accelerate Cape Town who shared his expertise on Africa and world economics, and Thom Dammrich of National Marine Manufacturers Association (NMMA) who reported on NMMA initiative, ‘Go Boating’.
The last day of Congress consisted of the ICOMIA Annual General Meeting and a Working Session, where Peter Methven (BMF) was elected as the new President of ICOMIA, taking over from Lorenzo Selva (Italian UCINA). Romano Piculjan (Croatian CBIA) was elected as Vice President and Yavuz Sipahi (Turkish DENTUR) was elected as 2nd Vice President.
The Congress ended with a spectacular Gala Dinner at Simon’s Restaurant, which is nestled in the historic Groot Constantia wine estate. Established in 1685, it is the Cape’s first winery and offers magnificent examples of Cape Dutch architecture and artefacts.
Next year’s ICOMIA/IFBSO Congress will be held in London, United Kingdom.
