Board Meeting Update

6-7 June 2024 - Cairo, Egypt

Opening remarks from the President

IPLOCA President Roberto Castelli conveyed his thanks and appreciation to Board member Saji Khoury for organising a successful Regional Meeting in Cairo on 5 June attended by more than 70 people from the industry.

Safety and CSR moment

Bruno Pomaré, HSE & CSR Committee Chair, advised that the next HSE & CSR Workshop will focus on working safely with machinery. It will take place on 22 October 2024 in

Lisbon, Portugal. As very few incidents happen during welding, a welding operator will be invited to speak about the reasons behind the low incidence of accidents in welding.

Board members were encouraged to watch a series of pipeline specific safety videos available on PLCAC’s website. These 3 to 5-minute videos cover specific situations and include the lessons learnt from the incidents. The videos are available here: https://pipeline.ca/pipe-line-contractorsassociation-of-canadas-safety-videos-series-2/

HSE & CSR Committee

The Committee has welcomed a new member, Emanuele Stallone, HSE Department Head at Bonatti, who replaced Giovanni Rivas.

Snam was selected as the new sponsor of the IPLOCA Health & Safety Award. The IPLOCA Awards Adjudication Meeting was planned to be held on 11 June in Geneva. The HSE & CSR Committee will meet again on 21 October and the IPLOCA HSE Workshop Fall Session 2024, focusing on the theme “Human – Machinery Interface,” will take place on 22 October in Lisbon.

HSE Statistics Forms had been received from 87% of Regular Members, at the time of the Board Meeting.

Innovation Committee

The Novel Construction Spring Session held in Windsor on 24-25 April 2024 was attended by more than 90 people, 20% of whom were women. The Novel Construction Fall Session will take place in Lisbon, Portugal on 23-24 October 2024. The contract for the IPLOCA Members Technology Platform will be cancelled at the end of 2024. The Platform served as a catalogue for IPLOCA members to list their technologies and capabilities.

Membership Committee

The Committee welcomed a new member, Dr. Somaieh Salehpour, Vice President, Technology and Strategic Marketing at Seal For Life Industries, who recently joined the group.

The Committee developed a plan for IPLOCA’s social media activities including a template for LinkedIn posts.

Energy transition Committee

The Committee, heavily involved in the planning and organisation of the Novel Construction Spring Session, was pleased with the engaging industry presentations over the two days of the event held in April. Participants emphasised the urgent need to adopt digital solutions.

Building on the great achievements of the Road to Success app, the Committee plans to launch a new initiative to establish a “best practice” or “reference” document to assist members in taking advantage of the opportunities presented by the energy transition.

In the coming months, the Committee will primarily focus on two important events. The World Hydrogen Week, held from 30 September to 4 October, and the European Hydrogen Week, taking place from 18 to 22 November 2024. IPLOCA will mark these events with a series of online activities and host a webinar to debate both weeks’ activities. More than 60 documents had been uploaded to the Energy Committee’s “Information sharing and exchange” webpage dedicated to the energy transition.

Roberto Castelli raised the question whether the two committees, the Innovation Committee and the Energy Transition Committee, should be merged into one single group or remain separate. Following a discussion, the President concluded that for another year the two committees would remain separate.

Treasurer

The Board was informed that at the first Board Meeting before the Convention in Sorrento, Adam Wynne Hughes will leave his position as Treasurer. Two Board Directors expressed an interest in the position of Treasurer, Bruno Pomaré and Andrew Ball. The Board elected Bruno Pomaré by secret ballot during the Board Meeting on 7 June.

The Board approved the following changes to the By-laws: “the Treasurer may serve a maximum of three consecutive years on the Executive Committee as a Treasurer.”

The Board agreed that the three consecutive years the Treasurer may serve on the Executive Committee is considered as separate from the maximum six consecutive years an individual may serve on the Board.

IPLOCA Scholarship Programme

A total of 115 scholarship applications had been received and reviewed by the Scholarship Committee in 2024. Twelve students were chosen to receive scholarships. The Board reiterated that applicants and recipients must be affiliated with active, fully paid-up Regular and Associate Member companies. Applicants are automatically disqualified if their companies have not paid their membership fees.

As some students submitted their application without recommendation letters, the Board decided to make the rating scale public. In the future, one scholarship per region will be awarded to ensure that students enjoy equal opportunities. Candidates will also be encouraged to provide a complete application, including all required documentation.

The Board will make a decision in December 2024 about the number of scholarships to be awarded in 2025.

Annual Convention review

Executive Secretary Georges Hage was pleased to advise that within three weeks of registration opening, a record number of people, namely 373, signed up for the Annual Convention in Sorrento, Italy. The agenda for the Open General Meetings and Annual General Meeting on 12 and 13 September was reviewed and agreed. Elections to the IPLOCA Board of Directors will be held during the Convention, and this year six vacant seats are available for Regular Members and three seats for Associate Members. Each candidate’s eligibility will be reviewed by the Secretariat. Sean McNally had resigned from the IPLOCA Board following his departure from PipeLine Machinery International (PLM). The Board approved that the 2025 Convention will be held at the Swissotel in Izmir, Turkey on 15-19 September 2025. The Board also approved Doha as the location for the 2026 Annual Convention.

Treasurer’s Report

Following a request from the Treasurer, Adam Wynne Hughes, the Board voted to reappoint the auditors, RSM Audit SA, for 2024. The 2023 accounts were being audited by RSM Audit SA at the time of the Board Meeting. The Board will vote via email on the IPLOCA 2023 accounts once the auditors have signed off on the accounts*. The audited accounts will be presented during the Annual General Meeting on 13 September in Sorrento.

*At a later date, in July 2024, the IPLOCA 2023 audited accounts were approved by the Board via email.

Membership changes

At the time of the Board Meeting, the IPLOCA membership status was 80 Regular Members, 108 Associate Members and 34 Corresponding Members.

The following membership applications were approved:

Allied International – Associate Member

Finn Corporation – Associate Member

RAE Energy – Associate Member

Steeltrade – Associate Member

TAG – Corresponding Member

IPLOCA NextGen Network

Board members nominated eleven young individuals to be part of the new network supporting young industry professionals. The Board agreed that the official launch will not take place during the Convention in Sorrento.

Instead, NextGen representatives will be invited to the Convention in Izmir in 2025. The purpose of the IPLOCA NextGen Network is to help young professionals share knowledge and gain easy access to the IPLOCA community.

Regional Meetings: Buenos Aires, Tokyo and Krakow

The next IPLOCA Regional Meeting will take place in Buenos Aires, Argentina on 4 December 2024. A Regional Meeting in Tokyo, Japan will be held on 26 March 2025. Krakow, Poland is the chosen location for a Regional Meeting scheduled for 4 June 2025.