Under the motto »Trends in SMMart Shipping«, this year’s trade fair SMM brought
together about 50,000 industry visitors from more than 120 countries
The fair in Hamburg focused on digitalisation and »green shipping« this year –featuring a total of 2,289 exhibitors from 69[ds_preview] nations, and five accompanying conferences in 13 halls covering a total of 93.000m2 of exhibition floor. Bernd Aufderheide, President and CEO of Hamburg Messe und Congress (HMC), was highly pleased with the outcome of the four-day event: »SMM 2018 was a full success. We again welcomed the Who’s Who and we have seen again that there is nothing that can replace the person-to-person interaction between the key players of the sector.«
Digitalisation is one of the key drivers of the industry, along with environment protection. Many exhibition stands gave evidence of this, frequently using touchscreens, simulators and virtual reality goggles to make their innovative technologies more tangible for visitors. »This year you can really see the digital revolution entering the maritime sector,« said Frank Coles, the then president of Transas Group, a Wärtsilä company. Other exhibitors agreed: »As the digital revolution becomes maritime reality, SMM 2018 has proved to be the ideal opportunity to launch the ABB Ability Marine Pilot Control dynamic positioning (DP) system as part of the journey towards autonomous shipping,« explained Mikko Lepistö of ABB, who as well was a speaker at the »Maritime Future Summit«, which was organized by the SMM team in close cooperation with HANSA (see page 48).
The visitors were able to choose theme routes guiding them to specific exhibitors, including the new Cruise & Ferry Route. In addition and again, several business deals were finalised at SMM. For example, GEA announced an order from P&O Cruises for its innovative industrial refrigeration technology. Other exhibitors likewise expressed their satisfaction about major new orders. The classification society DNV GL, for example, reported having been contracted to supervise and classify a 2,750 TEU newbuilding project at the Chinese shipyard Huangpu-Wenchong (HPWS), and the ship propeller manufacturer MMG seized the day to deliver the world’s biggest containership propeller on the occasion of SMM. The »Maritime 3D-Printing Show Area«, also received plenty of attention (see page 54).
SMM was again complemented by high-profile conferences covering specific topics such as digitalisation (Maritime Future Summit), environment protection (Global Marine Environmental Congress), ocean research (Offshore Dialogue) as well as security and defence (Maritime Security & Defence). The Career Forum, a series of presentations about maritime professions and careers, was another first.
For the seventh time, the MS&D was held in Hamburg during SMM. The focus was on current and future challenges for maritime security and defence. Twenty renowned naval, industrial and science experts discussed topics such as how to protect international ocean trading routes, when and how to deploy naval forces on crisis missions, as well as cybersecurity issues.
At the Offshore Dialogue, scientists, engineers and shipbuilding experts gathered to discuss sustainable deep sea mining as well as opportunities and risks of Arctic shipping. The main focus was on the latest maritime technologies – plus the question: When will the time be right to begin exploiting the resources in the deep blue?
At gmec, the global maritime environmental congress, experts discussed how the global shipping industry can achieve the IMO’s ambitious environmental goals while continuing to provide its services at competitive prices. »We are at the beginning of a new chapter in the history of shipping,« said Tian-Bing Huang, Deputy Director – Marine Environment Division at IMO.
The next SMM will take place from 8 to 11 September 2020 in Hamburg. If you are interested in more details of the conferences, as well as the most relevant news and insights from exhibitors, please visit www.hansa-online.de and www.hansa-online.de/smm/
