World Maritime Week, a global reference space

From 27th to 31st March 2017, Bilbao Exhibition Centre will become an international showcase for the naval, fisheries, energy and port sectors thanks to the WORLD MARITIME WEEK. The creation of this new brand shall integrate four events: Sinaval, Eurofishing, Marine Energy Week and FuturePort, which will preserve their own names but shall be coordinated from now on under the same umbrella event with the sole purpose of achieving a greater international impact.

Top speakers from Canada, Colombia, Australia, Brazil, Liberia, Mexico, Belgium, United Kingdom, Kenya, Peru, France, Iceland, China, Finland and Germany, and visitors from shipyards and shipowner firms from 18 countries who are interested in the Spanish market have confirmed their participation at the event, which further proves its international projection. WORLD MARITIME WEEK is the only forum of its kind in Europe thanks to the combination of sectors, the conferences – both specific and shared-, the exhibition area, the B2B programmes and other top-notch networking spaces. Whilst the first day of the programme, Monday 27th, will be devoted to private meetings, and the last day, Friday 31st, will include visits to the facilities of the exhibiting companies, the central block of the agenda will concentrate from Tuesday to Thursday.

CONFERENCES: A SPECIALIZED GLOBAL VISION

Opinion leaders and recognized experts in the maritime field will offer a specialized global view during the conference section of the WORLD MARITIME WEEK, which will include shared sessions and specific conferences for each area. At the opening plenary session, shared for all four events, Iñigo Urkullu, Lehendakari (President) of the Basque Country; Alejandro Aznar, President of the Spanish Maritime Cluster, as well as of Aznar and Ibaizábal shipping companies; Juan Riva, President of Suardiaz Group and member of the Board of Directors of ECSA and ICS; Jenny Braat, President of Market Monitoring Group at Sea Europe; and Xabier Viteri, Renewable Business Director of Iberdrola Group shall take the floor, in addition to other relevant persons.

This year, the Sinaval programme shall focus on “Reducing the ecological footprint”, the “View of charterers”, “Opportunities in the international military market” and the “Challenges of the Basque maritime industry and the new strategic plan for 2017-2020”. The latter shall define the main opportunity niches for a comprehensive, diversified and international sector that already accumulates experience in the sectors of oil&gas, offshore wind power, river transport, fishing, dredging, mining, cable-laying ships and innovative equipments… The following speakers will take part, among others, in the Sinaval conferences: Guillermo Alomar, Balearia Fleet Director; Fredéric Pouget, Fleet, Ports and Project Director at Brittany Ferries; Walter Collet, Managing Director of Fairplay Towage; Luc Gillet, Fleet Vice-President at Total; Miguel Luque, Marine transport Director of Repsol; Alfonso Mingarro, Managing Director of CEPSA Trading;

José Antonio Sierra, Almiral of the Mexican Navy; Harvey Doane, Managing Director of Investment Attraction, Defence, Security and Aerospace in Nova Scotia Business; and Sofía Honrubia, Military Commercial Director of Navantia. The Sinaval section will include a presentation on new business opportunities for the naval construction sector in Nova Scotia, Canada, which will be delivered by Nova Scotia Business, a development, investments and export agency.

The Eurofishing section, which deals with “Tuna Freezing Vessels” and “Fishing of the Future”, will include speeches by Leandro Azkue, Director of Fisheries and Aquaculture of the Basque Government; Yimin Ye PhD, Chief of the Marine and Inland Fisheries Branch of the Food and Agricultural Organization, United Nations (FAO); Harrison Charo-Karisa, Director of the State Department of Fisheries, Kenya; Stefaan Depypere, Director of International Affairs and Markets for the European Commission’s DG MARE; and Svavar Svavarsson, Business Development Manager of HB Grandi, from Iceland.

At FuturePort, the conference on “Infrastructure and equipment for a more sustainable maritime and port industry” will include three round tables on the “Environmental Strategy of the Shipping Companies and its Impact on European Ports”, “Projects in American Ports and their Environmental Strategy”, and “Towards the Ports of the Future: H-2030.” The different sessions will attract relevant persons to the BEC such as Antonio Aiz Salazar, Transport Deputy Minister of Basque Government; Thomas Doepel, Head of Group Purchasing of Finnlines; José Rafael Díaz, Director of the Port Authority of Santa Cruz de Tenerife; Esteban Diez-Roux, Main Transport Specialist of the Inter-American Development Bank; David Simón, from Brazil’s Tertitum Participaçoes; José Llorca, President of Puertos del Estado; Asier Atutxa, President of the Bilbao Port Authority; Emmanuel Van Damme, Commercial Director of AP Zeebrugge; Michal Gogol, from the Marketing and Development department of AP Gdynia; and José Noriega, General Manager of Terminales Portuarios Chancay, Peru.

Lastly, Marine Energy Week shall start with a series of sectoral meetings and workshops on European projects that are related to marine energy, which will lead up to the BiMEP Day on the 28th. The third day of the congress shall be devoted to offshore wind power, where the main global manufacturers will showcase the latest advanced in offshore wind turbines. By the end of the week, the oceanic energy sources will take over the event. The congress will include speakers such as Gilles Dickson, CEO of Wind Europe (European Wind Energy Association); Bent Christensen, Vice-President of Siemens Wind Power; Luis Álvarez, General Manager of ADWEN; and Jacopo Moccia, Policies and Operations Director of Ocean Energy Europe, the largest network of professionals of the oceanic energy sector in the world. Additionally, Marine Energy Week will host an exclusive Workshop with the participation of Iberdrola, Adwen, Navantia, General Electric and Siemens. This workshop will analyse the costs of the supply chain, one of the main challenges the sector faces today.

B2B CONTACT AS A STRATEGIC ELEMENT

The creation of networking spaces for direct contact with other professionals from the Maritime Industry is one of the distinctive features of WORLD MARITIME WEEK. At Sinaval, the British company Meet the Buyer has organised B2B meetings between the exhibitors and 31 shipping lines and shipbuilders from the Philippines, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand, Germany, Greece, Denmark, Ireland, Iran, France, Belgium, Morocco, Turkey, Cyprus, Egypt, The Netherlands and Vietnam.

Eurofishing will offer meetings between owners of tuna freezing vessels and fishing ministries from two African countries of prime interest: Liberia and Kenya. Marine Energy Week will also host exclusive meetings between the exhibitors and the congress visitors at the Brokerage Event, organised by Enterprise Europe Network, while FuturePort will coordinate interviews with international port authorities.

The fact that the exhibition area is located within the Luxua hall, an area that connects to the conference area, will facilitate the meeting of the different professionals and companies of four different sectors that have great synergies. Leading shipyards like La Naval, Zamakona, Murueta, Balenciaga, Navantia, Armon, Gondan or Atlanticeagle Shipbuilding and other leading companies of their sector, shall be present in this space that will gather a total of 75 exhibitors.

In parallel, the social agenda will be the unifying element of the event. One of the main events will be the gala dinner, to be held on the 28th, which will host 300 professionals from the international maritime sector. The 2nd FINE Maritime Awards will be given out at the event – a total of seven statuettes for the following categories: ship, shipyard, shipowner, engineering project, institution, professional, and honorary lifetime achievement award. During the evening, a special recognition to the fishing, port and renewable marine energy sectors will be done.

The official inauguration of the WORLD MARITIME WEEK will take place on Tuesday, the 28th at 13:00 hours, at the end of the plenary session of the congress, and will be presided over by Iñigo Urkullu, Lehendakari (President) of the Basque Government.

Sinaval, Eurofishing and FuturePort are organized by the Bilbao Exhibition Centre, and Marine Energy Week is created through the alliance between the Basque Energy Board (EVE), TECNALIA Corporation and the Bilbao Exhibition Centre.

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