Background
In 1988 the Vice President of VESW, the Society of Marine Surveyors and Consulting Engineers in the Netherlands with their secretary conceived the idea that it would be prudent for the various national societies to form a federation in order that the voice of European marine consultants and European ship surveyors could be heard in international forums in maritime affairs. These matters were aired at a meeting which was attended by two German and one U.K. representative.
After this meeting, it was proposed by the VESW that the captioned Federation be set up. The first meeting was called in Amsterdam in 1989 since which time, meetings have been held in the centres in which member societies are in operation namely France, the Netherlands, Belgium, Italy, Germany, Greece and United Kingdom. The Constitution of the Federation, Memorandum and Articles of Association were presented for ratification at the General Assembly in the Netherlands in September 1993.
Whilst some countries within Europe are not yet members of the Federation, it has been found that they sometimes do not have societies of marine consultants or ship surveyors in the maritime field.