President's Message
By Koen Van Goethem
I hope this message finds you all well and healthy.
2021 has been yet again a year with a lot of restrictions, but how lucky have we been? Finally, being able to organize and to welcome you with great pleasure at our Annual Meeting, which had been postponed several times.
70 plus attendees enjoyed the beautiful scenery of The Greenbrier, hosting our 100th Anniversary Celebration and Conference. It was clear that everybody needed this in-person gathering, our first in almost 2 years.
I wanted to thank all the Technical Chairs of our Technical Subcommittees for their preparation of the TC meetings, which were well led by our Technical Director, Sarah Padilla, and Technical Committee Chair, Amy Jenkins.
At the end of our very constructive and productive technical meetings on Tuesday, we had the pleasure to be invited to the Welcome Reception & Dinner offered by the following Associate Members: Beyond Fibre, DSM Dyneema, FibrXL, Fletcher Industries, Hailide America, Herzog, Honeywell, I-Coats, Kuraray, Nexis Fibers, Robco Engineering, Teijin Aramid, and TP Industrial Yarns.
A big thanks for their sponsorship of this excellent dinner.
On Wednesday morning, we had the pleasure of listening to 2 new members, Chuck ‘Rooster’ Farmer and Raymond Pascale, introducing their companies, and to Philippe Verschueren, Secretary-General of Eurocord.
Our conference continued in the afternoon with an excellent tour, and we had incredible weather for this time of the year to enjoy our Gale Foster Memorial Golf Tournament.
The Group Photo, Gala Dinner, with remittance of the Gale Foster Award of Merit (Steve Swiackey), and The Richards Technical Contribution Awards (John Flory and Forrest Sloan), and dancing were the highlights of our 100th Anniversary Celebration.
Thursday, 5 Technical Presentations were given by Janpeter Horn (Herzog), Forrest Sloan (Kuraray), Elizabeth Huntley (Whitehill), Loet Hoppe (I-Coats), and Dr. Victor Li (University of Michigan).
I wanted to thank Pete Lance, Meg Woody, and James Wolfington for the excellent organization of our Annual Meeting in these continuous, difficult pandemic times.
Finally, I would like to thank the members of the Board for their presence, involvement, and commitment. A special thanks go to Mark Swiackey and Luis Padilla, who left their companies and the Board of CI. We’ll miss your productive and constructive contributions to the CI and the industry.
2022 will bring hope, new opportunities, and more and more in-person meetings, exhibitions, and conferences.
Our next in-person meeting will be the Joint Annual Meeting (Eurocord/CI),
12th – 15th of June 2022, Vienna.
Looking forward to seeing you at our next Virtual Winter Technical Meeting,
2nd – 3rd of February 2022.
I wish you and your families an excellent start of 2022.
Stay healthy and take good care of yourself and your families. The Cordage Institute exists for you and can only continue thanks to you.
|
|
Cordage Institute Happenings |
|
|
|
Highlights of the Cordage Institute’s Annual Conference and 100th Anniversary Celebration |
The Cordage Institute’s 2021 Annual Conference and 100th Anniversary Celebration was held on November 9-11, 2021 at The Greenbrier in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia. The full conference program included a Board of Directors Meeting, Technical Committee Meetings, a Business Session, the Annual Technical Seminar, the Gale Foster Memorial Golf Tournament, a 1920s inspired Anniversary Celebration and Dinner, and plenty of opportunities for attendees to connect and interact.
|
|
|
|
Christian Rheault Elected to Cordage Institute’s Board of Directors |
The Cordage Institute is pleased to announce the appointment of Christian Rheault to the Board of Directors. Christian Rheault, CEO at Samson, is a technology executive with 25+ years of success within multiple industries and international organizations. Prior to joining Samson, he was CEO of Greene, Tweed, a U.S.-based global supplier of custom sealing engineered solutions for aerospace, oilfield, semiconductor, petrochemical, and power. Along with his business leadership experience, he has held roles in engineering, manufacturing, and marketing management.
Christian is an innovative and results-driven leader who focuses on achieving exceptional results and embraces profit and growth challenges.
|
|
|
|
Cordage Institute to Hold Virtual Technical Meetings on February 2-3, 2022 |
The next meeting of the Cordage Institute's Technical Committee will be held virtually on Wednesday, February 2nd and Thursday, February 3rd.
These meetings will tentatively be held between 10am and 2pm EST on each day in consideration of the various time zones of CI Members, and actual meeting times will be confirmed based on how much time each Subcommittee and Task Group will need for their meetings.
Please mark your calendars for these meetings. Once meeting times are finalized, additional details will be sent to CI Members.
|
|
|
|
Save the Date: Cordage Institute and Eurocord’s 5th Joint Conference |
The Cordage Institute and Eurocord are pleased to announce their continued collaborative relationship with the 5th Joint Conference to be held on June 12-15, 2022 at the Imperial Riding School Renaissance Vienna Hotel, which is located 9 miles from the Vienna International Airport, and within walking distance of seven different museums.
This joint event will offer excellent opportunities to interact and network with both Cordage Institute and Eurocord members and to engage in strong technical content. The program will feature technical working group and committee meetings, technical and industry speakers, member presentations, golf, and other social activities. A meeting notice, with information on the program, will be sent in early 2022.
|
|
New Cordage Institute Member
The Cordage Institute is happy to welcome the following new member:
|
|
|
|
|
Reseller Member
Burley, Indiana
|
|
Yankum Ropes is a “Made in America” company that is dedicated to delivering superior products both at home and abroad. Starting out as a simple love for off-roading and getting stuck, and then unstuck, Yankum Ropes was created to deliver kinetic recovery ropes to a wide audience found through our affiliate network. COVID and terrible supply chain issues pushed us to act fast and quickly become more than just a reseller of cordage and now becoming a domestic manufacturer in 2022. |
|
Knots & Notes
By Sarah Padilla, Cordage Institute Technical Director
|
|
The Knots and N otes section of Ropecord News informs you of the standards being developed by the Cordage Institute, as well as by other industry organizations. As we develop this section of the newsletter, please let us know what type of content is of interest to you by sending an email to sarah@ropecord.com or info@ropecord.com.
|
|
Standards Update
Updates from the Cordage Institute Standards subcommittees on how things are progressing since the last newsletter.
|
|
The Standard Review
Updates from other standards bodies that are relevant to the cordage industry.
,
|
|
|
|
BRILEN® Invests in High Tenacity Polyester Yarn Capacity to Reinforcement R+D Capacities |
BRILEN is pleased to inform to the market the approval of a new investment on High Tenacity Polyester Yarn capacity to reinforcement R+D capacities.
At the end of this year 2021, we will be starting up a pilot line to push the development of products and the enlargement of BRILEN® yarn range, especially in terms of properties and additives. This will allow us to face special and customized technical requirements and becoming really competitive for tailored-made industrial PES yarns range in Europe. The reinforced human team in the R+D department, our continuously updated chemical and textile laboratories and this pilot plant, places BRILEN in the leadership of industrial yarn development, to the service of our customers.
|
|
Yale Cordage Releases Series of New Instructional Splicing Videos |
Yale Cordage released a series of new instructional splicing videos to their website and YouTube channel. The videos cover a wide range of products, including industrial single and double braid products as well as climbing lines, and are intended to complement their existing Qualified Splicer Program.
“Our goal in creating and updating the instructional splicing videos is to offer content that improves consumer education and familiarity with our products while simultaneously providing a much-needed training resource. These videos will not only be beneficial to our end users, but to our value-add distributors and retailers” says Bill Putnam, President of Yale Cordage.
The Yale Qualified Splicer Program is offered by the company as a tool to ensure that riggers are performing their work correctly. Yale Qualified Splicers have completed an appropriate Yale Qualified Splicer Program Kit, and there are several kits available upon request.
The company plans to continue working towards completing new videos for other approved splicing methods. Written splicing instructions for those videos, yet to be released, will also be made available on the company’s website.
|
|
|
|
Samson Partners with Ocean Technologies Group |
Samson Rope’s Mooring and Towing Line training materials now available on Ocean Technology Group’s Ocean Learning Platform
Samson and Ocean Technologies Group (OTG), a global learning and operational technology company serving the maritime industry, have agreed to collaborate to provide seafarers with on-demand access to Samson’s comprehensive set of online courses in rope handling, inspection, fabrication, and installation.
The courses will be available on OTG’s Ocean Learning Platform, which was specially created to deliver blended learning, assessment, and competency management solutions that ultimately connect e-Learning and hands-on activity to improve knowledge, skills, and behavioral development.
|
|
Eurocord Corner
By Philippe Verschueren, Secretary General
|
|
Dear friends,
Covid gives us all a feeling of a never-ending story… luckily, IT platforms offer possibilities of maintained communication, and we were even lucky to assist in November last to the METS (Marine Equipment Trade Show) in Amsterdam. Great feeling of exchanging with some members and to be able to address a bunch of prospect companies, all pretty much interested in the EU legislation concerning plastics and its waste-streams.
We are happy to have continued our technical work with videoconference meetings spanning the entire scope of our technical committees. The key has been the creation of a new CEN Technical Committee, n° 466, addressing the sustainability, circularity, and recyclability of fishing gear and aquaculture equipment. Eurocord is well placed, since it holds, through its committed members, the Chair, the Convenorship, and the Secretariat of this TC. We nevertheless encourage all of our members, and why not some CI members through a representation in Europe or in any other EFTA member state (for a reminder, the current CEN Members are: all member states of the European Union; three of the EFTA members: Iceland, Norway, Switzerland; and other states: United Kingdom, North Macedonia, Turkey, Serbia), to participate in this important work, which can be done by contacting the national standardization body of the country where located. CEN TC 466 has taken a “flying start” and meetings are planned on a regular and very timely basis.
In the Machinery Directive, the same trajectory is followed. We are in the process of joining a (to be reactivated) CEN Technical Committee (168), which already deals with slings and lifting equipment, however currently only for wire rope. Following the path, we have now resolutely taken, should give us a similar grip on the development of standards in this area.
Next year we are looking forward to our event, being the Joint “Get together again” meeting for Eurocord and Cordage Institute. On the “events” tab on our website, the dates are announced, as we already did when assisting to the celebration of your Association’s 100th anniversary. From Sunday, June 12th to Wednesday, June 15th, we will have the opportunity to spend a great time together in Vienna, combining professional, cultural, and leisure happenings in a magnificent environment. Reserve the dates right now! (Obviously, pending any potential Covid-restriction.)
Probably as every one of us is looking forward to a normalized and buoying new year in 2022, and we wish all of you a sparkling start of a new promising year in 2022.
Kind regards from Brussels.
|
|
|
|
Abaca Shipments Up 25% in 5 Months
|
The country’s export earnings from abaca products jumped 24.7 percent in the first five months, driven by strong demand from most major markets.
Latest data from the Philippine Fiber Industry Development Authority (PhilFIDA) showed that abaca export sales reached $88.5 million in January to May, higher than the $71 million registered in the same period last year.
Abaca pulp accounted for the bulk of export earnings at $71.6 million, 21.8 percent more than the $58.8 million recorded a year ago.
|
|
|
|
This Rope Company is Carbon Neutral Certified
By Suston Sustainable Outdoor News
|
Sterling Rope Company joins Suston Magazine/NORR Agency and over 300 other brands to chart a zero-carbon future using Carbon Neutral.
The American climbing rope manufacturer Sterling Rope Company has taken the next step in their sustainability journey by going through the complete Climate Neutral audit and becoming Climate Neutral Certified.
Climate Neutral is a non-profit organization and the leading consumer label designating carbon neutrality. The certification label is carried by brands that have voluntarily stepped up to take responsibility for the greenhouse gas emissions generated in the production, operations, and shipping of their goods and services.
|
|
February 2-3, 2022
Zoom
April 4-7, 2022
Salt Lake City, Utah
Hilton Salt Lake City Center
April 24-27, 2022
Houston, TX
Marriott Marquis Houston
May 2-5, 2022
Houston, TX
NRG Park
May 17-19, 2022
Atlanta, GA
June 12-15, 2022
Vienna, Austria
Imperial Riding School Renaissance Vienna Hotel
November 30-December 2, 2022
New Orleans, LA
Morial Convention Center
|
|
Ropecord News
Ropecord News is published by the Cordage Institute. The Cordage Institute is an international association of rope, twine, and related manufacturers, their suppliers, and affiliated industries. Articles appearing in Ropecord News are the views of the authors and not necessarily those of the Cordage Institute. Members are encouraged to contribute articles and items of interest by emailing them to info@ropecord.com.
Peter M. Lance, Executive Director
Tel: 610-971-4854
Fax: 610-971-4859
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
