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January February 2020 Marina World

The magazine for the marina industry

TRAINING, EDUCATION &

TRAINING, EDUCATION & CERTIFICATION (14th-16th January, Fort Lauderdale, Florida) to shape the core Marina Design and Engineering track. Working with a significant number of topic submittals, we proposed thematic groupings for dynamic discussions, added invited speakers to discuss ‘Engineering with Nature’ programme experience, and will be moderating an open discussion round table. Due to the strong relationship between PIANC- USA and the US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), we also hope to provide new dialogue opportunities between the marina industry and USACE’s ‘Engineering with Nature’ (EwN) programme. EwN provides an innovative approach to the sustainable design of waterfront development and navigation infrastructure. It is readily applicable to the conditions in the US but complements PIANC’s ‘Working with Nature’ initiative at an international scale as they are both based on substantially the same principles. This PIANC outreach took a couple of years to mature, but I am confident that it will grow organically as many professionals involved with PIANC routinely attend IMBC. While in the past they did not talk about PIANC, now we are setting the stage for new institutional presence and PIANC activities. For example, we are planning to recognise PIANC members who take part in this conference and facilitate input from the marina industry representatives attending PIANC working groups and other initiatives. Professional development and networking merge seamlessly in these types of events. I have observed similar patterns in other countries with well developed PIANC National Sections and strong marina industry associations. There are professionals, members of PIANC participating marina industry association activities, but there are still insufficient synergies. This can seem disappointing or an opportunity. So, we are considering it an opportunity. Thanks to our great friends in the ICOMIA Marinas Group, PIANC RecCom had a specific institutional presence at the World Marinas Conference in Athens in 2018. Through coordination with PIANC Australia/New Zealand National Section, PIANC was present institutionally for the first time at the Marinas19 event. RecCom also organised outreach activities to the local marina community during PIANC’s Annual General Assemblies in Panama Esteban Biondi presents to delegates during the two-day design course in Amsterdam. and Kobe. We had the invaluable support of the Japan Marina and Beach Association for the event in Kobe this year and of the Marinas and Yachts Commission of the Panama Maritime Chamber for the event in Panama. In both cases, there was a professional training component to the institutional event. We intend to continue looking for opportunities for collaboration with PIANC sister associations - the Global Marina Institute (GMI), ICOMIA, The Yacht Harbour Association (TYHA) and the Association of Marina Industries (AMI) - and with any other groups with common interests. What is PIANC? PIANC is a 135-year old professional organisation dedicated to navigation infrastructure. It has four technical commissions, focused on maritime ports, inland navigation, environment and recreational navigation. The core business of PIANC is the development of Working Group reports; technical documents prepared by ad hoc groups of experts to address issues of professional interest. In addition to the use of these documents for education and training, PIANC routinely organises technical conferences and seminars. The Marina Design Training Programme (MDTP) Recognising that there is no formal education in marina design, and training is limited to on-the-job training and some conferences, PIANC’s Recreational Navigation Commission (RecCom) created the Marina Designer Training Programme (MDTP) less than a decade ago. In the first five years since the first MDTP, RecCom experimented with various formats, including an intensive one-week long course (2013) and various one-day short courses attached to PIANC conferences (2014 and 2015). After this experience, RecCom decided to focus on developing oneday courses (organised alongside conferences or directly by the Commission) and offering specialist long courses at the request of specific partners. By organising an MDTP at Metstrade, PIANC has initiated a strong cooperation with one of the major industry events. RecCom vision and mission Our vision is to ‘be relevant and useful, serve the marina community and its professionals, worldwide’. Our mission includes ‘providing expert guidance and technical information through high-quality technical reports and by connecting the international recreational navigation infrastructure and marina community through a variety of products and events’. RecCom ‘develops technical knowledge and guidance to advance the sustainable development and use of recreational navigation infrastructure to support world and national economies, our communities’. We promote excellence in sustainable planning, design, construction, operation and management of marinas and recreational navigation infrastructure. All these dry phrases come to life through the activities that we are promoting in pursuit of a larger, better and more sustainable boating industry, continuously exploring new ways to be useful to our marina community. For further information on PIANC RecCom go to www.pianc.org or e: reccom@pianc.org Esteban L. Biondi is chairman of the Recreational Navigation Commission of PIANC and associate principal at Applied Technology & Management. 44 www.marinaworld.com - January/February 2020

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