News ICS 

Out with the old, in with the new



The Shipbroker has had a change of name, and will now be called Shipping Network, to better reflect the diverse membership of the Institute, which represents managers, agents and brokers and many other disciplines within the shipping profession. No doubt you will all agree that one of the major benefits of membership of the Institute is the sense of belonging to the largest network of professionally qualified shipbrokers worldwide.

If you are happy to receive an electronic version and do not require a paper copy please let the office know so that the distribution list in the database can be amended, which will reduce the associated distribution costs.

Maritime Media — the same organisation that produced the very successful Our Word Our Bond publication — is the new publisher. This can be accessed at www.ourwordourbond.net. The 2004 edition is now progressing and will be available early next year.

Shipping Network will be published three times per year and will be available online for members on our website at www.ics.org.uk and click on Shipping Network.

The ICS will also distribute an e-zine every two months as part of the drive to maintain communications between members and as part of the marketing plan to secure the Institute’s future. The Institute welcomes comments on the style and content of the new revamped magazine — preferably by e-mail to either the Director or the Editor.

Website members area
The purpose of this part of the website is to improve communications between our members worldwide and the office in London. Please visit the website at www.ics.org.uk and register. There are also details of the benefits that the ICS has been able to negotiate on your behalf.

ICS HQ on the move
The office has moved to a smaller open-plan office. Please call by when you are in London. By way of orientation for those who knew the whereabouts of the old offices, ICS headquarters has moved 200 metres towards the river. See Buccaneer – Page 29

Library
The library that used to be housed in the Institute’s head office was becoming increasingly out of date and proving to be more of an expense on Institute funds rather than providing a useful resource to all our members and students worldwide. The Institute’s Education Fund welcomes requests from branches wishing to update their libraries. The Institute’s books have now been transferred to the London Metropolitan University for which access can be gained by sending an e-mail to mary@ics.org.uk. You will also be able to receive the assistance of the University’s librarian for any research you may be doing.

Institute’s database
The ICS has had some difficulties with our database in head office. With some changes to staff and a much better relationship with the company that installed the system a couple of years ago, the Director General is confident that most of the gremlins within the system have been eradicated.

It goes without saying that however efficient the system, all databases are only as good as the accuracy of the data being inputted. Please let the office staff know of any changes to your circumstances so that your file remains accurate. Additionally, it is also very important that you let us know when a member dies, as it is distressing when the families of those recently deceased receive correspondence.

A fond farewell
Roger Hasdell — long-standing and committed Editor of The Shipbroker — has retired. He took on this task — some may say labour of love — in 1987 when the telex number still featured on contact lists. Since then, there has been a revolution in communication.

Roger has had a varied and interesting journalism career starting out on the Northampton local paper, where he gained the profession’s Certificate of Training and National Diploma — one of the first to do so.

He moved to London and worked on a quaintly named magazine in the construction business — Public Works and Muckshifter. He then went to Western Scotland as a senior reporter on the Oban Times for four years, a particularly attractive part of the world. With some reluctance he moved back to London to work for a public relations company for the best part of 10 years.

As a freelance PR consultant, he also worked for many years within the shipping division of the Powell Duffryn Group and edited the newsletter for both Stephenson Clarke Shipping and Cory Brothers. Roger is a passionate sailor who started racing dinghies on his local river, Nene, in his early teens. He has navigated most of the UK’s inland waterways in his 60ft canal narrowboat and edited Waterways, the national magazine of the Inland Waterways Association, for 17 years.

Roger, from all your readers, sincere thanks for a job very well done and enjoy the extra spare time your retirement from editing will bring you.

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