Hydrographic Society Benelux

Successful Workshop in Antwerp Harbour

The workshop themed ‘Reference Frames and Geodesy in the North Sea’ attracted nearly 70 members of the Hydrographic Society Benelux who headed for the small town of Lillo near Antwerp, a historical green oasis surrounded by the industrial area of the harbours of Antwerp. Alain de Wulf managed to create a varied programme of presentations on Wednesday 6 February 2013.

Cornelis Slobbe from Delft University of Technology started the sessions by explaining the ‘Roadmap to a mutually consistent set of offshore vertical reference frames’. He introduced the participants to various reference frames and their relationships. Hans Poppe, Project Engineer Tide and Currents, Flemish Hydrography, emphasised the Belgian reference frames and the renewed atlas of the Port of Zeebrugge. He discussed matters from a Belgian perspective and talked about the history of reference frames.

After a break, Dr. Leendert Louis Dorst, marine geodesist for the Dutch government, chairman of the Resurvey Working Group at North Sea Hydrograpic Committee and vice-chairman of the International Hydrographic Organization’s Data Quality Working Group, gave an insight into the geodetic infrastructure of organisations and their positions and duties in the national and international hydrographic and geodetic professions. The last contribution, ‘Geodesy: the Reality!’, was presented by Pedro De Roose, senior surveyor at DEME Survey Department. He brought together the theory and the dilemmas faced in daily practice.

The meeting was concluded with drinks hosted by DEME, which were welcomed by all delegates before taking to the road again.

AGM and workshop on Cleaning the Vecht River

The next workshop has been scheduled for 27 March 2013. Subject will be the cleaning and dredging of the River Vecht from Muiden to Utrecht in the Netherlands. Emphasis will be on the first section in the north, reaching towards Nigtevecht. The work to be carried out shows quite some innovation and promises to be very interesting! Details of the programme will follow at the beginning of March on the Hydrographic Society Benelux website.

The AGM will also be held on this day as well as the traditional award presentation for the best Student Paper.

Joint Workshop with DHyG

The Hydrographic Society Benelux is involved in the joint organisation of a workshop with the Deutsche Hydrografische Gesellschaft (DHyG). The Hydrographentag 2013 is to take place on 28 and 29 May 2013 in Hotel Alte Werft in Papenburg, Germany. The programme, prepared by the DHyG, includes 5 German and 5 Dutch presentations. On the evening of 28 May, there will be an excursion to the Meyerwerft where the new German research vessel Sonne is currently being built.

The conference language will be English. Companies are invited to contribute to the event to extend their reach. There will be a fee of around EUR100 (excluding travel and accommodation). For more information, please see www.hydrographicsocietybenelux.eu.