Congress Krakau 2016

More than 170 representatives of the inland navigation, insurance, surveyors lawyers and other sectors participated in the annual IVR Congress in Krakow. In addition to the official program the participants fully used the two congress days to network and exchange relevant information. The members of the Legal Committee opened the two congress days on Wednesday 11th of May.

IVR Congress 2016 (Photo: IVR)


Day one of the congress started with the meeting of the Executive Committee followed by a meeting of the Board of Management. The afternoon was devoted to the workshop; cyber risks in inland navigation and revitalization of the waterways in Poland. The evening was ended with our traditional joint dinner. All of our guests were welcomed at a local restaurant next to an old tram depot, dating from the year 1913.

General Assembly City Hall Krakow (Photo:IVR)

Day two was dedicated to the General Assembly. IVR was welcomed in the city hall of Krakow. During the meeting the new strategy was announced and  president André Auderset assigned his  presidency over to Klaus Weber Mund & Fester GmbH & Co. KG in Hamburg as a representative of the German association of transportation insurers GDV. The meeting ended with a reception offered by the Mayor of Krakow.

Workshop- Cyber risks in Inland Navigation & recent study on inland waterways in Poland
Although the transport and logistics sector in general and inland waterways in particular are hardly prepared for cybercrime and risks and the dangers are considered to be low, the increasing digitization may in inland become the focus of cyber-crime and thus a potential risk of this sector and its insurers.

J.Goszczynski, K.Brand, K.Weber, M.Mostowik (Photo: IVR)

For this reason, the workshop zoomed into different perspectives on this issue in order to raise awareness of potential dangers. Especially Mr. Klaas Brand, Director Cunningham Lindsay Netherlands, succeeded in identifying the potential risks for each business with his presentation and some examples from practice.

Capt. Jack J. Goszczynski gave insite into the electronically steered vessel and its potential risks while Michał Mostowik elaborated on cyber crime and liability. 

The moderator, Vice President Klaus Weber, closed this part of the workshop with the finding that the speakers succeeded at making a significant contribution to the awareness of this issue (conclusion).

In the second part of the workshop Kamil Wyszkowski, General Director, UN Secretary General Global Compact Initiative Poland in Warsaw presented a study on the revitalisation of inland waterways in Poland and possible economic, environmental and energy-related costs and benefits.

General Assembly
The leaving President, André Auderset, elaborated in his opening speech on the reflection on the goals and main tasks of the association to which IVR’s members in the past year have provided important input through a survey. This led to a new strategy, which was adopted unanimously during the Assembly.

General Secretary, Theresia Hacksteiner, emphasized in her report the important role of inland waterways in the entire logistics chain. To fully exploit the potential of inland waterway transport, the maintenance of the waterways is crucial. Something the EU Member States are increasingly lacking behind. In addition the General Secretary zoomed in on the state of the fleet. Given the economic crisis that has greatly affected the sector in the recent years, the renewal and the maintenance of the fleet are at risk. This represents a potential risk for damage to vessels (presentation). To prevent this from happening, the Loss Prevention Committee, chaired by Ir. Carlos Maenhout, came up with various recommendations and developed injury prevention programs (presentation).

Secretary General, Theresia Hacksteiner (Photo: IVR)

The Chairman of the Legal Committee, Dr. Martin Fischer, in his report emphasised the important role of the IVR in the field of legal unification in Europe which was reflected again in the recent colloquium on 17 and 18 March. He also pointed out the unique collection of judgements regarding CMNI and CLNI, which have been collected and will be updated continuously by the Legal Committee for the benefit of the members.

New IVR Presidency and Congress 2017
In his speech the brand newly elected President, Klaus Weber, elaborated his priorities during the presidency. These relate primarily to the stronger positioning of the IVR as the unique international platform where national organizations of inland navigation, transport insurance and surveyors as well as individual companies and persons from these and related areas are represented .
In conclusion, he invited the members to the IVR congress 2017 on 1 and 2 June 2017 in Würzburg.

K.Weber;” The IVR as the unique international platform” (Photo: IVR)

The IVR congress is made possible by our sponsors

The conference was made possible in cooperation with Krakow Convention Bureau