PIANC UK, the British section of PIANC

PIANC UK

Navigation, Ports and Waterways

PIANC Commissions

PIANCs four Technical Commissions (InCom, MarCom, EnviCom & RecCom) cover the different areas of waterborne transport infrastructure.

They are continuously supervising the work carried out by our experts in the respective Working Groups on industry-relevant topics. The reports prepared by these Working Groups are the core business of our Association and a highly respected resource for governments, companies, and industry associations.

If you are interested in joining a commission please apply here.

What is involved?

The opportunities offered being a commission representative are excellent. 

The career benefits with the role are extensive, including:

  • Building a strong professional network across the industry, internationally
  • Sharing state-of-the-art knowledge and gaining experiences that broaden technical expertise.
  • Oversight of the Commissions’ state-of-the-art working documents and developments
  • Contributing to the development of internationally recognised guidance and best practices.

Typical involvement includes:

  • Reviewing draft Working Group (WG) reports for technical matters, consistency with other WG reports and editing.  Commissions typically publishes four to six WG reports per year, but not all Commission members are involved in reviewing every report
  • Contributing to the development of Terms of Reference for new best practice technical reports
  • Acting as a mentor for a WG to provide a link between the WG Chair and commission chair, to keep an eye on progress, offering advice and support as necessary and where relevant to your experience taking an active role in drafting parts of chapters with other WG members. 
  • Commission meetings, typically three times a year (a mix of face to face and hybrid).  This is a great opportunity for networking and international travel.
  • Contributing to the organisation of events such as webinars (depending on the Commission)

The roles of members, alternate members and young professional (YP) members are very similar; all can be as proactive as the next in giving assistance to a commission. In line with most PIANC activities, the more effort you put in the greater the benefits, but YP members are not expected to have the same level of experience and expertise as full and alternate members. For YPs, an interest in the subject area and a willingness to contribute at an appropriate level are what matter most.

The average time commitment is between half to a full day a month over the year, with busier periods around commission meetings and WG activity. This is typically covered by a combination of personal or company time (subject to company agreement).

Maritime Navigation Commission (MarCom)

MarCom is responsible for dealing with maritime ports and navigation channels issues of interest to PIANC. MarCom co-operates with other Commissions when issues can be seen to have a broader perspective, for example when they also have an environmental or inland impact and where relevant cross-commissions issues are concerned such as Working with Nature, Climate Change or approach to target countries. MarCom also co-operates and communicates with other international organisations such as IAPH, IALA, IHMA, IAHR, IMPA, WODA & OCIMF.

  • UK Member – Michael Grace
  • UK YP – Pending
  • UK Alternate – James Palmer

Recreational Navigation Commission (RecCom)

RecCom has been established to deal with aspects directly related to recreational, leisure, sport and tourism navigation, to develop facilities for this kind of navigation, and to facilitate its integration with other types of navigation (commercial and fishing). Sustainable planning, management of all recreational navigation infrastructure – including marinas – and their  integration into waterfronts, are matters on which the Commission gives support to the technical community. It is the policy of the Commission to produce a regular flow of studies and reports and to contribute in training of professionals involved. RecCom cooperates with organisations with similar and complementary objectives, such as the International Council of Marina Industry Associations (ICOMIA).

Inland Navigation Commission (InCom)

InCom is in charge of the activities of PIANC in the field of inland waterways (IWW), including inland navigation (ships, ports, etc.); inland infrastructure (locks, movable weirs, flood protection barriers, etc., including electro- mechanical components of the equipment); numerical and physical hydraulic modelling; river engineering and river morphodynamics, including dredging aspects; river and canal management; economy of IWW; environmental issues related to IWW, including vessel-river interactions; inland port design and management; inland transportation and logistic (RIS – River Information Services, AIS, modelling of IWW, IWT Policy, etc.); maintenance & inspection of IWW; and operation, management of IWW (asset management, etc.).

In addition, InCom networks with waterways stakeholders and international organisations/commissions (CCNR, MRC, etc.) to reach PIANC’s strategic goals and organises and supports the PIANC-SMART Rivers Conferences.

Environmental Commission (EnviCom)

EnviCom is responsible for dealing with both broad and very specific navigation sustainability and environmental risk-related issues of interest to PIANC that crosscut all PIANC areas, partner activities. With strategic initiatives, Working Groups and networking activities EnviCom is proactively developing and providing environmental guidance supporting the Waterborne Transport Infrastructure Sector to strive for sustainability and to implement of the respective PIANC goals. In this regard, EnviCom is pursuing new or continuing existing activities to topics like Working with Nature, Ecosystem Services, Environmental Risk Management, Dredging in environmental sensitive areas, Sustainable ports, Climate change adaptation, Carbon management, Resilience.

In this context, EnviCom is continuously working together with the Technical Commissions of PIANC and partner associations. EnviCom is networking with international organisations such as the London Convention, OSPAR, WODA and the EU. Together with CoCom EnviCom is developing and sharing of information on navigation and the environment for and with Countries in Transition.

Permanent Task Group on Climate Change (PTGCC)

Permanent Task Group on Climate Change (PTGCC) contributes to and supports the activities of other Commissions as needed. It also typically has a slightly greater emphasis on webinars and other forms of good practice dissemination than on the preparation of technical guidance, although some guidance is also produced.

The goals of the cross-commission PTGCC are to facilitate the delivery of the commitments made in the PIANC Declaration on Climate Change by:

  • Supporting ports, harbours, marinas and inland waterways by sharing knowledge and preparing practical technical guidance to help them manage the climate change challenge
  • Contributing to the global discussion, to ensure that waterborne transport infrastructure interests are properly acknowledged, and to disseminate key messages to PIANC members and the wider port and navigation community, for example via the preparation of guidance
  • Joining forces with other waterborne transport infrastructure stakeholders to meet new challenges, explore opportunities and contribute to a responsible, informed and sustainable way forward.

For more information on the PTGCC, see the Terms of Reference or scroll down to Who we are.

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