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2009 was a
festive year for this Association.
Not only did we
celebrate our centennial, but we also had the honor to
receive his Majesty King Albert II in Antwerp to discuss
with him the recent upswing of the Belgian Maritime
Register, the efforts of the Belgian Shipowners to build a
state of the art and innovative fleet and our commitment to
the quality label of the Belgian flag.
A particular
touch to this last event was that we were able to organize
this meeting in our new premises along the quays of the
river Scheldt, thus giving our honorable guest a preview of
the new siege of our Association, the “Redershuis”, which in
the mean time houses our staff since February 2010.
We proudly
consider our investment in this house, a contribution to the
Antwerp’s heritage, all the more since we reserved the
ground floor to install the Eugeen Van Mieghem (Antwerp
painter, 1875-1930) museum, which was recently opened for
the public.
Off course, all
the foregoing did not distract us from our prime task, i.e.
defending the interests of the Belgian Maritime community.
In this Annual Report, you will find in more detail the
issues that were and still are on the agenda, but allow me
to take this occasion to highlight some major concerns :
- As to the
still increasing threat of actions of piracy, today
mainly in the Gulf of Aden and the western Indian Ocean,
we can only say : enough is enough! Governments must act
to guarantee the freedom of the seas and to protect the
thousands of seafarers by dedicating sufficient and
adequate resources to find real solutions to this
problem.
- As to the contribution that is expected from the
shipping industry to reduce NOx, SOx and green house gas
emissions, it is of paramount importance that a global
agreement is established under IMO control and
flag-blind to avoid competition distortion.
Finally, given
the fact that in the Far East the economical crisis is
already history and that also Northern America is recovering
rapidly, I call on all responsible people in Europe,
captains of the industry, politicians as well as trade
unions, to join forces to save Europe’s position on the
global marketplace.
Nicolas Saverys
Chairman |