UK/North West England & North Wales

Maritime Search & Rescue: 200 Years of the RNLI

The Branch was delighted to celebrate the 200th Anniversary of the RNLI this year – a remarkable milestone for one of our most important and treasured national maritime institutions!

We hosted a brilliant seminar at Fleetwood Nautical Campus on the topic of Maritime Search and Rescue. The event opened with an address from Divisional Commander Alun Newsome, HMCG,  in which he brought the enthusiastic audience of cadets, apprentices, officers under training, other practising seafarers (and a fair few retired folk!) up to speed with the work of the Coast Guard. This was followed by an excellent SimEx which involved a POB in the Mersey Estuary and a parallel sector search involving multiple vessels.

The day was rounded off by a convivial, informal dinner at the Trafalgar Restaurant in Fleetwood.

The Branch thanks Captain Atkinson FNI, Head of Campus, and his team for organising and hosting the day along with everyone else who helped its success.

Cut 'n' Shut - or How to s t r e t c h a Cruise Ship

The Branch was honoured to be addressed by Captain Trevor Bailey FNI, Senior Vice-President, in a recent webinar.

Windstar Cruises’ USD250m ‘Stretch’ project, carried out in Palermo, Sicily between October 2019 and March 2022, saw three former Seabourn motor ships stretched by 25m, installation of new engines and generators, along with an additional 50 passenger cabins and other improvements. 

Capt. Trevor was the ‘Yard Captain’ for the project and he provided a personal take on this most incredible and challenging project - and a career-expanding opportunity.

The 'Danny Adamson' Webinar

We were treated to a fantastic presentation on the Danny Adamson on 17th January 2024 from Skipper Stuart Wood MNI. Many thanks to Stuart for a wonderfully illustrated and informative talk. Stuart - your passion for the Danny was communicated most effectively and the photographs and documents were truly evocative.

NOAA 101 - Cdr Jonathan Heesch, Exec Officer

Many thanks to Cdr. Jonathan Heesch from NOAA who gave an illuminating and informative talk on his organisation to the Branch on 13/12/23 via Zoom. Full report to follow in Seaways and, for a limited time, you can catch up with the recording at

NOAA - a Webinar from Cdr. Jonathan Heesch AFNI

Passcode: +@GVcjr0

Antarctica - a Third Officer's View

A stunning debut webinar from Branch Committee Member Third Officer Beth Wilkinson. Beth described her recent voyage to Antarctica aboard the Sir David Attenborough. She gave a fascinating account which was wonderfully illustrated by some great pictures. Huge thanks to Beth for sharing her experience. The Webinar was recorded and available by cliicking on:

Antarctica - a Third Officer's View

Passcode: 50pW.GWO

Liverpool Seminar and Dinner

The NWE&NW Branch extends warmest thanks to the panelists and attendees who made the seminar on 26th October 2023 such a great occasion.

The legal and contractual afternmath of a ship/quay collision was examined in a quasi-mock arbitration - under the watchful eye of Arbitrator Jeremy Russell KC. Some erudite legal wrangling which offered a tantalsing insight to this, somewhat arcane, sub-sector of the maritime industry,

Once again, many thanks to everyone who made this such a success.

ISPS - Thank you for a great webinar!

Steven Jones delivered a great webinar to the Branch (and guest attendees) on 21st September 2023. It's been almost twenty years since the ISPS Code was introduced - in the wake of 9/11 and other serious terrorist activity. Steven brought us up to date with the very latest thinking on maritime security and appraised us of his latest book on the topic, published by the NI.

A full report of Steven's talk will be published in the November edition of Seaways.

Webinar - 1100 BST on Wednesday 21st June 2023

This hybrid webinar, delivered by Jakob Poulsen from Trelleborg Marine Systems in Denmark, gave an introduction to Portable Piloting Units (PPUs) and the benefits of using them. We looked into some of the technologies used in and around the PPUs and the data and tools that are available to pilots in order to give them the best possible situational awareness in their operations. There will be a report in Seaways in due course.

The Fleetwood Seminar

The NW & North Wales Branch held their annual Fleetwood Seminar on 25 May 2023.  The event, attended by over 80 delegates, focused on the theme of “Casualty Management”.

SHIP MANAGEMENT: Webinar

20/4/23: Mark Rawson delivered an informative and enlightening presentation on the modern world of shipmanagement with its plethora of challenges and opportunities.The webinar was well attended and many more took the opportunity to watch the recording later on. Andrew Glynn-Williams, Vice-Chair Shore-Based, gave the vote of thanks and will submit a report to Seaways. 

Going Carbon Neutral

The Branch held its latest Technical Webinar on 23rd March 2023 when four excellent speakers brought us up to date with latest developments in their fields. Ben Monks (assisted by collegues) from Svitzer in Liverpool; Mark Whitehead from Windcat in Lowestoft; Peter Aylott from the UK's Chamber of Shipping; and Jay Illingworth zooming in all the way from Fremantle, WA, where he's the Port Hydrographer. Their contributions were excellent and it was good to learn about how much activity is in hand to reduce carbon emission in our industry. A report will be submitted to Seaways in due course.

Self-Heating in Bulk Cargoes - a Technical Webinar

Our last Technical Webinar (Webtech) was on 24th November 2022 when Colin Hanks addressed us on the important subject of self-heating cargoes. There will be a report in Seaways in February 2023.

Details of the next Webtech on 23rd March 2023 will be posted here soon. Before then, it's the Branch AGM on 16th February starting at 1800h in the offices of Brookes Bell in Liverpool. All welcome, but please let the Secretary know if you will be attending.

Mersey Maritime Monthly Meeting

Branch Chair, Captain Ian Mathison, attended the monthly breakfast meeting of Mersey Maritime on 1st November, helping to highlight the branch's profile across the region.

This month's presentation was given by Dr Robyn Pyne, senior lecturer at Liverpool John Moores University. Dr Pyne outlined the history of the university in maritime education and described how it is now focused on degree courses and research. The latter included cargo handling capabilities of the Liverpool Seaforth, Atlantic Container Line route optimisation and how to alleviate port congestion at Le Havre in France. Two major projects currenty underway are 'SkillSea' which focusses on the future competences that will be required of seafarers and ‘Arcwind’ - related to floating structures in the renewal maritime sector.

Fleetwood Maritime Leadership Seminar

Maritime Leadership Seminar

Mersey Maritime Meeting Report

On the morning of Tuesday 2nd March our Chair resumed his representation of the branch at the monthly Face to Face early morning meetings at Mersey Maritime at their offices in Birkenhead. The meetings normally start at 0730 but this month it was scheduled for 0830 but fortunately the bacon and sausage batches and tea and coffee were still made available. Following half an hour's chat with colleagues the presentation given by Nigel Quinn CEO Bibby Marine entitled 'The route to Decarbonisation of workboats' started.

A brief history of Bibby Line was the introduction to the talk. The rich maritime heritage of Bibby Line is today represented by two 'walk to work' Wavemaster vessels and a fleet of Coastels (Accommodation floating platforms). The present fleet of two vessels which are conventional diesel powered, can operate in 3m significan weave heights,

Annual General Meeting

The Branch AGM was held by Zoom on Thursday 17th March 2022. Minutes will be circulated to all Branch Members in due course.

Warm tributes were paid to Captain William Nute who has decided to step down from the committee after thirty years' service, many of them in the role of Honorary Secretary. Branch Chair, Captain Ian Mathison, thanked William for this magnificent and unprecedented effort in support of the Nautical Institute and everyone sent their best wishes.

Thanks were also given to Captain Bob Hawley who has relinquished the role of Honorary Treasurer and handed over the keys to the till to Captain Paul Walton.The Branch finances remain in safe hands!

Other committee members indicated their wish to continue serving and they were confirmed in their positions by unanimous decision en bloc.

NW England and N Wales Branch 50th Anniversary Dinner

Next year, the Nautical Institute celebrates its 50th Anniversary (postponed a year because of the pandemic). The North West England and North Wales Branch is proud that the very first meeting of far-sighted Mariners was held in Liverpool on the 14th October 1971 from which came the Nautical Institute.

It's fitting therefore that our celebration next year will take place exactly 51 years later on Friday 14th of October 2022 with a Seminar and Gala Dinner at the Radisson Hotel in Liverpool. The NI’s CEO John Lloyd will be in attendance and our Guest of Honour will be Sir Michael Bibby. This will be an exciting evening and we hope you will be able to join us. Details and costs will be announced nearer the time.

Still no news

Not much more to say about Covid at the moment. The situation changes frequently and it's far from certain when we will be able to meet in person. The Branch Committee is of course monitoring developments closely and will react just as soon as possible.

Branch Notice Board

Here in the UK we're still in partial lockdown and not many facilities are available.However, we remain eternally optimistic and are (tentatively) looking forward to the possibiilty of face-to-face meetings in the autumn (Northern hemisphere,  that is). Watch this space!