The maritime industry at large was there to share its hopes and anxieties about both the present day and the future. Shipowners, ship managers, port operators, the cruise industry, fast ferry constructors, bulk cargo operators, classification societies, regulators, offshore operators, lawyers and classification societies all had their say. Justice Richard Cooper, speaker, and Justice Brian Tamberlin, session chairman, helped to focus on the possible need to reconsider existing marine insurance law and maritime law in the context of the millennium. None was heretic. While it was thought that to review the Marine Insurance Act 1906 at the turn of the century was appropriate, none criticised its performance over the past century.
Durability is, after all, a fair test of quality.
The level of interest never diminished. Fascinating presentations abounded, such as that of Captain Stephen Pelecanos of the Australian Marine Pilots Association, who looked in depth at the working conditions of marine pilots in the search for an explanation for pilot error. Svein Soerlie of Barber International, Oslo, foresaw the likelihood of massive technical, operational, change. Those contemplating revision of marine insurance and carriage of goods by sea law will need to be nimble enough to envisage a legal regime which meets the technical complexity of the millennium. Additionally, legal concepts based upon the theory of the master's isolation and the agony of the moment in a casualty on the far side of the globe, and the ownership of vessels which only return to the home port after two years, will never be sustainable in the next millennium.