From today until Thursday, Bilbao Exhibition Centre will become the benchmark meeting point for the international maritime sector, hosting the 3rd WORLD MARITIME WEEK. This eagerly awaited event will be very special this year. Five congresses linked to the following sectors will be held in one place: naval (Sinaval), fisheries (Eurofishing), ports (Futureport), and, as a new feature this year, Oil&Gas Conference, which will deal with all aspects of oil and gas, both up and downstream; and Ocean Energy Conference, which will gather wave energy and tidal energy experts.

There are three main pillars that have made this meeting an unmissable event: its conference programme, which will include about a hundred top-level speakers and 85 hours of knowledge exchange; its networking and B2B programme, highly valued by participants as it is a space for contact with different professionals; and, finally, its exhibiting area in the Luxua Hall, where 90 firms will showcase the latest developments of the so-called blue economy and exchange ideas with attendees. Each one of these pillars has its specific significance as part of WORLD MARITIME WEEK, an event that is seen by attendees as a chance to reconnect directly with the sector, as the economy is gradually being reactivated.

The opening ceremony will take place today, 5 October, starting at 11.30am and led by Arantxa Tapia, Basque Minister of Economic Development, Sustainability and Environment. The plenary session will include speakers such as Xabier Basañez, Director General of Bilbao Exhibition Centre, Claes Berglund, President of ECSA (European Community Shipowners’ Associations), and Alejandro Aznar, President of the Spanish Maritime Cluster and the Ibaizabal Group, who will be the moderator of the round table made up of Juan Riva, Chairman of the Suardiaz Group; Javier Garat, General Secretary of CEPESCA; Kurt Bodewig, European Coordinator for the TEN-T Baltic-Adriatic Corridor at the European Commission; and Luis Rodríguez Llopis, President of IDOM.

The shipbuilding industry will come together at SINAVAL, the oldest event of them all, to address issues such as state ships, green navigation, shipping companies and decarbonisation, as well as digital transformation, cybersecurity and digital twins. The fishing industry will have its own event at EUROFISHING, covering topics like digitalisation, electrification and the ship of the future. On the second day, the challenges of the Basque fishing sectors will be discussed, as well as all the latest features and state-of-the-art technology for ports, at FUTUREPORT.

As well as all these traditional events, OIL&GAS CONFERENCE will take place, covering the analysis and prospects of the energy environment, the transition of Oil&Gas companies towards environmentally-friendly multi-energy services, as well as the sector’s current situation and evolution. Wave energy and tidal energy experts will gather at OCEAN ENERGY CONFERENCE to analyse strategies for the development of ocean energy, how to finance an emerging sector and how to take advantage of wave energy, amongst other things.

As for purchasers, it is worth highlighting the participation of countries such as Mexico, Colombia, Turkey or Croatia. And as the best way to do business is face to face and by networking, B2B meetings will once again be one of the most valuable spaces of the event, and most of them will take place in person. These meetings will be held on Wednesday 6 October and Thursday 7 October in the morning.

Meanwhile, 90 exhibiting companies will showcase the latest innovations at Luxua Hall, including shipyards such as Zamakona, Balenciaga, Murueta, Navantia, Gondán and PYMAR.

Lastly, WORLD MARITIME WEEK also pays special attention to the social agenda. So, in addition to the meetings and private cocktails for exhibitors, speakers, authorities and buyer delegations, there will also be a gala dinner for professionals at Bilbao Exhibition Centre. Within the framework of this event, the 5th FINE Awards will be presented, which constitute a meeting point for the maritime sector.

During the event, Bilbao Exhibition Centre will put in place a strict safety protocol, which has been awarded the “Safe Tourism Certified” quality mark by the Institute for Spanish Tourism Quality (ICTE), certifying that the exhibition centre is a safe space. The exhibition centre will continue to focus on access control, preventive capacity management, social distancing, cleaning, sanitisation and environmental safety, as it has been doing over the past few months.