Chairman’s letter – October 2018
Dear members and partners
Welcome onboard to all our new members and to our October THMail newsletter! We have much to report as the “back to school” season has started with a bang. We are now very much settled in our new offices at the Ergo centre and have already seen a marked increase in our connection with members, partners and visitors. Our new facilities have enabled us to restart our MemberConnect meetings and from this week we kick off our new member networking initiative ONBOARD! The response has been very encouraging and spaces for members to exhibit proved to be very popular and were all booked up very quickly.
Just a few weeks ago we were organising the Humber exhibition stand at Wind Energy Hamburg which was bustling all week and kept the 20 Humber representatives and companies very busy. This is now the largest Wind exhibition in the world and 7 halls, 1,450 exhibitors and 35,000 visitors from around the world. The first international Windy Millers event was also held in Hamburg and 35 members and guests enjoyed a typical Oktoberfest evening!
Our connections with the USA continue to grow and we recently welcomed a delegation from Rhode Island who were interested in how the Humber Offshore Wind ecosystem has been developed over the years. We’ll be returning to the USA at the end of October early November as part of a Humber Offshore Wind advocate team organised by the British Embassy to support and advise East Coast states on their journey into the industry.
October will also see THMA support a Northern Powerhouse Mission to the growing Offshore Energy exhibition Amsterdam. Thirty companies predominantly from the Humber region will participate in the mission with a full programme planned over 3 days including organised 1-2-1 meetings.
This exhibition will also be the platform for the launch of a new Anglo-Dutch initiative in which THMA are key partners. The “Southern North Sea Energy Alliance” Memorandum of Understanding will be signed between AYOP Amsterdam Ymuiden Offshore Ports, EEEGR East of England Energy Group, NSEG/Den Helder North Sea Energy Gateway and THMA Team Humber Marine Alliance. The MoU provides a framework to pursue closer working relations on promoting the Southern North Sea regions as an offshore and marine energy hub and to foster joint projects between the parties and their members and stakeholders.
We’re also nurturing relationships with China and Taiwan for similar reasons and have a group from Yangjiang region coming to the Humber in early November. They’re looking for partnerships and cooperation and some of our members have already won business in this part of the world.
Finally, I must mention the sad loss of one of our dear friends and partners Mike Ackroyd from MAPA PR. The founder of MAPA and father to Catherine I’ve known him for almost 10 years and he’s contributed to many of those exciting press releases and announcements about our wonderful industry and the evolving Humber story. He was certainly one of life’s real gentlemen, always a twinkle in his eye and I’ll miss him dearly.
Kind regards
Mark O’Reilly
CEO & Chairman
Team Humber Marine Alliance
Ergo
Meadow Road
Bridgehead Business Park
Hessle
HU13 0GD
Tel: 01482 485271
Mob: 07545 210108
Web: www.thma.co.uk