I bid a sincere welcome to all members, guests and friends of The Society of Marine Port Engineers, New York to this our Sixty-Seventh Annual Dinner Dance.

I am also excited to welcome our Honoree this year, The Grand Bahama Shipyard LTD. I look forward to hearing about the development of this enterprise from near obscurity to becoming a major player in the ship repair and conversion industry, particularly in the cruising fleet. It will also be interesting to hear of their plans for future growth and business outlook.

I would like to commend the hard work of our Dinner Dance and Journal Committees for another successful event and extend a special thanks to all our many supporters and boosters for making our Scholarship Loan and Charity efforts possible. Through your continued generosity the Society has been able to donate $20,000 for charitable causes this past year including The Navesink Maritime Heritage Association, the Sea Scouts Ship228, SUNY Maritime Museum and Scholarship Funds, and the South Street Seaport School Ship Lettie G Howard, details of which can be found in this Journal and on our website. We hope to continue this level of charity in the coming year.

Our IT Committee has also been hard at work updating the SMPE.org website and we expect a major improvement in the functionality in the near future. I ask that you check it out when you have a moment.

Best wishes from the Society for a wonderful evening and healthy and prosperous year to come. 

Very best regards,

Richard W. Norris