The European Harbour Masters' Committee (EHMC) is a regional committee within IHMA. From within the IHMA membership it currently represents 22 European countries and 144 European Harbour Masters. Brought into being at the 4th Congress of IHMA, held in Bremen in May 2004, the EHMC replaces the EHMA and is currently chaired by Captain Andreas Mai of the Ports of Bremen and Bremerhaven.
Aim The aim of the EHMC is to further the specific interests of IHMA's individual members in Europe. (Art. IX 5.1 of the Constitution) Objectives The EHMC strives to offer European Harbour Masters additional advantages related to their region, in addition to those benefits of IHMA membership;

As an active regional committee, EHMC strives to strengthen the Association.

EHMC Management
The Region EHMC is managed by a committee that includes the Chairman, Committee members and a Secretary. The composition of EHMC is such that its members come from four European countries in the South, East, West and North European sub-regions plus a country in the middle of them. This composition is considered as optimal since it can steer a common vote in cases where different approaches or rates of development exist The Committee furthermore is composed of two members for each of the five sub-regions. The geographical spread from Committee members over countries should be as broad as possible.

Seminars
These events provide the possibility for discussion on topics of professional interest to European harbour masters between the IHMA Congresses. To date they have been held on :

		November 29th, 2002, Rotterdam, Netherlands; "The future of vessel traffic management in concept and philosophy"
		November 20th, 2003, Göteborg, Sweden; "How do we handle ship waste in Europe? Implications of regulations and practices"
		June 2nd, 2005, Bordeaux, France; "Safe Seas, Safe Ports"
		June 14th, 2007, Aarhus, Denmark; "Beyond ISPS; further enhancing port security"
		June 4th, 2009, Gdansk, Poland; "Extreme weather decisions"
		April 7th, 2011, London, UK; "The Safe Port; training, education, information"

Participation in European research projects
The EHMC contributes to European research projects in the maritime and inter-modal and integrated transports areas. From within its membership, it provides a group of experts in harbour safety, management and associated environmental issues, in large and small ports, both publicly and privately owned.

Advantages of this participation for EHMC are :

		having a voice and influence in European policies concerning ports and shipping transport;
		the opportunity for more frequent meetings between harbour masters, adding to the strength of professionalism within IHMA;
		gathering information on present-day advances and issues in port policies and technology.

EHMC participates as a reference group via which :

		an assessment can be made about the implications of implementing proposed and tools and measures for European port operations;
		an assessment can be made concerning the (equal) implementation of proposals among the ports;
		information can be gathered on best practice in different ports;
		information of professional interest can be disseminated for the improvement and broadening of knowledge of port marine affairs.

Comments on published drafts and deliverables are invited from the wider membership.
Projects in which the EHMC have participated include :

EMBARC - December 2001 to June 2005

MarNIS - November 2004 to present day

Boundaries of the European region
The IHMA definition of Europe goes beyond that of the members states of the European Union and encompasses the following countries :