BMEEA delivers another successful conference

The British Marine Electrical & Electronic Association (BMEEA) held yet another successful conference at the Novotel Hotel in Southampton on the 18 October.

The Association’s Chairman, Derek Gilbert, opened the Conference, which this year focused on adapting the present to thrive in the future, by welcoming the speakers and special guests that included David Pougher, President of British Marine and Steve Spitzer, Technical Director at the National Marine Electronics Association (NMEA). He also thanked the event sponsors, in particular Victron Energy as headline sponsors of this year’s event.

The delegates were treated to a wide range of subject matters during the day including presentations from Steve Spitzer on the updates to NMEA Standards and OneNet; Robin George from McMurdo who gave a presentation on MEOSAR (a project using next generation Medium-Earth Orbit (MEOSAR) satellites for search and rescue assistance); followed by Dr Dennis Doerffel who provided an update on the latest technology associated with lithium battery management.

After lunch, Matthew Leat from the UK’s Maritime and Coastguard Agency talked of the role of technology in modern search and rescue. There followed a presentation from representatives of McKenna Townsend giving an overview of social media and the benefits its use can bring to the industry. The final presentation of the day was given by Richard Broden-Cowell of Bournemouth and Poole College covering marine electrical apprenticeships.

The formal section of the Conference was completed with the Association’s AGM followed by a round table discussion by all delegates identifying how best to focus the Association’s resources on new initiatives to benefit existing members and to appeal more to potential new members.

Running concurrent to the main conference during the afternoon was an apprentice’s competition in which teams from RNLI, Sunseeker, Energy-Systems UK and Berthon Boats completed an electrical technical task. The competition was close with the team winners being Jamie Ballam (Level 3 Year 2) and Harry Butterfield (Level 3 Year 1), both from the RNLI. Both Jamie and Harry will receive vouchers for tools as part of their award as well as the trophy, sponsored by Navico.

The day was rounded off with presentations of awards for BMEEA’s ‘Product of the Year’, the BMEEA’s ‘Dealer/Installer of the Year, the BMEEA ‘Newly Certificated Electrical Technician of the Year’ and BMEEA’s ‘Newly Certificated Electronic Engineer of the Year. The presentations were followed by a very entertaining after dinner speaker, Admiral Sir James Perowne KBE, focusing on daily life aboard submarines.

BMEEA Chairman Derek Gilbert commented that he was delighted that the Conference had been so well received. He went on to say that the variety and quality of presentations provided thought for all delegates and it was very rewarding to see so many apprentices join the event and participate in the competition.