Rotterdam: While the international shipping calendar is littered these days with a dizzying array of new events, each professing to be unmissable, few can claim to be more than 50 years old. Returning for its 37th edition tomorrow in Rotterdam is Europort, one of the best known shipping event brands.
“No other event has the scope of coverage Europort manages,” argues Raymond Siliakus, Europort’s exhibition manager. “It is Europort’s willingness to provide the forum for the industry’s innovators that has proved the secret of its sustained success.”
The Rotterdam location helps too, Siliakus says. “There is, perhaps, nowhere else in the world with equivalent opportunities to convert cooperation and innovation into revenue creation within the Netherlands’ vibrant maritime cluster,” he maintains.
Alongside established elements of the conference programme a new dimension this year is the introduction of a series of masterclasses. The Europort Masterclasses are an initiative of Ahoy Rotterdam, organiser of Europort, and Netherlands Maritime Technology (NMT), the Dutch association of shipyards, maritime suppliers and service providers. In total, six masterclasses will run and each will address the leadership challenges facing the industry across the areas of design, technology, efficiency and human capital.
2015 is the first year that the Royal Institution of Naval Architects (RINA) will be holding its Energy Efficient Ships 2015 conference as part of the Europort programme.
This year Europort is also co-host to the Brazil Network Day in conjunction with the Brazilian Embassy. The one day event brings together commercial, financial and governmental interests for an intense session of discussions and networking on opportunities in Brazil. More than 1,000 participants are expected to attend.
Not only has the show grown in terms of its conference programme and social events but the number of exhibitors has also increased. Over 1,000 exhibitors, representing 40 countries, participated at the event in 2013. In 2015, no fewer than 1,100 exhibitors from 45 countries will be present. 15 country pavilions will take part representing China, Croatia, Finland, France, Greece, Iran, Italy, Malaysia, The Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Spain, Turkey, UK and USA.
Visitor numbers for 2015 are expected to top those of 2013 and exceed 30,000, Siliakus claims. The show starts tomorrow and ends on Friday.
