Confindustria Nautica flies to Washington for 60th ICOMIA Congress

60th ICOMIA Congress © Confindustria Nautica

The 60th Congress held by ICOMIA, the International Council of Marine Industry Associations, came to a close on Thursday 28 May in Washington D.C.; this year's event was organised by the American trade association NMMA.

Confindustria Nautica, the Italian Marine Industry Association, took part in the meetings of the main technical working groups, leading the activities of the Superyacht Division and the Trade and Market Intelligence Committee:

• The Technical Committee examined recent regulatory updates in Europe and the US, and also analysed the progress of the Blue Boat Horizon Life Cycle Assessment project, which is currently being developed in collaboration with the European industry federation EBI;

• The Superyacht Division focused on developing a strategy to consolidate ICOMIA's active participation in IMO meetings and those of its technical subcommittees, as well as on the priorities of the ISO TC8/SC12 "Large Yachts" committee;

• At the Trade and Market Intelligence Committee meeting, the spring update of the ICOMIA Statistics Book (available to member companies) was presented, and progress was reviewed on the development of a new online tool for the global analysis of import/export data for recreational craft;

• The Association's concluding Annual General Meeting approved the 2025 final accounts and the update to the composition of the Board of Directors, of which Confindustria Nautica is a member, and presented the overall plan for ongoing activities.

During these four intensive days of the event, there were also a number of informative workshops on the specific characteristics of the US market, and a visit to Congress was organised.

60th ICOMIA Congress - photo © Confindustria Nautica

Thanks to the European federation EBI's presence at the Congress, to celebrate its new affiliation with ICOMIA, an official visit was also organised to the European Union Delegation in the United States, where EBI delegates, together with Secretary General Philip Easthill and EBI President Robert Marx, met with operational officials to outline and discuss the main issues relating to trade between the EU and the US, with a specific focus on the evolution of tariff policies.

The next ICOMIA conference is scheduled to take place in Istanbul, Turkey, from 31 May to 4 June 2027.