On 11th and 12th October the 2023 ISPO conference was held at the beautiful Jakarta Hotel
, a green eco-friendly oasis in the center of Amsterdam. Our host, Nederlands Loodswezen, region Amsterdam-IJmond compiled a superb program of top-class speakers. The theme of this year’s conference was Emergency Preparedness.
There were more than 100 attendees from all over the world : ISPO associates, delegates, classification societies, stakeholders and pilot organizations interested in attaining the ISPO standard. The ISPO family is truly global.
The opening of the conference was performed by the Harbor Master of Amsterdam, Mrs. Milembe Mateyo. ISPO International User Group chairman Captain Matt Easton then explained how the ISPO standard had developed over the years, and how ISPO is essential for pilot organizations wishing to continuously improve their performance and transparency to all port related stakeholders.
On this first day, the focus was on the consequences of a serious incident for pilot organizations. 
Captain Tjitte de Groot covered the Bow Jubail pollution incident in Rotterdam. Criminal lawyer Rick Janse outlined the legal consequences for pilots of a serious incident. Capt. Karolina Cirjak spoke about the legal status of pilots throughout the world. Tracey Milne of Integrated Human Factors (IHF) discussed ways of maintaining and improving situational awareness, and disaster expert Wouter Jong spoke about managing a crisis and the associated communication.
On the second day, three more speakers gave their views on a serious incident management from a pilotage
perspective.Capt. Adrian Scales of Brookes Bell spoke about the recent Fremantle Highway incident, Maaike Rustenburg of the Dutch Safety Board presented on Learning Lessons from Incidents and Capt. John Pearn, former IMPA Vice President, spoke about the value of training and his own experiences from the “Sea Empress” incident.
Moderator of the conference and chairman of the Dutch pilots Capt. Willem Bentinck explained and demonstrated how the presentations all relate to ISPO.
The 12 chapters of the ISPO Code were briefly explained for the benefit of pilot organizations not yet ISPO accredited. If all requirements of the Code are met, an independent classification society will issue the ISPO certificate to the organization. At the end of the conference, Lloyds presented the renewed certificate to our associate Amsterdam-IJmond.
The IUG is delighted to see that more and more organizations around the world are adopting ISPO, the preferred quality and safety management system for pilot organizations. It is our mission to improve quality and safety in pilotage operations.
We are now looking back on a great event, with our friends in the worldwide pilotage community. We learned a lot about Emergency Preparedness, and how to be ready to deal with the consequences of a serious incident.
See presentations for download on https://ispo-standard.com/ispo-conference-2023-3
Many thanks to all speakers for their excellent contributions and last but not least to our sponsors.
We looking forward to the next conference 2024 in Melbourne. More details will follow soon.
