Marintec China 2011 - Largest in Its 32-Year History

Marintec China 2011 held its most successful conference and exhibition in its 32-year history last month at the Shanghai New International Expo Center.

Marintec China, a biennial exhibition, is sponsored by the Shanghai Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers and managed by UBM Asia. More than 87 countries were represented along with 18 national pavilions as well as 1,650 exhibitors were accommodated in five halls, which covered about 70,000 square meters (229,658 square feet).

PHOTO: Floor shot of Marintec China 2011

This year’s maritime forum highlighted China’s ‘Green Agenda, Innovation and Development.’ Maritime executives from China and around the world as well as senior Chinese government officials provided speeches and presentations on shipping, port infrastructure, shipbuilding, ocean engineering, finance, and marine equipment. China’s 12th Five-Year Plan is expected to highlight ocean engineering and marine equipment for targeted development in its maritime sector.

For over three decades, Marintec China has received recognition as being one of the leading maritime conference and exhibition around the world. This year, more than 50,000 visitors used its trading platform to develop corporate partnerships, exchange ideas and create new business opportunities.

PHOTO: John Janik, Chairman & CEO, EPD Inc. (center) and Butch Windham, President, EPD Inc., (right), with Tony Munoz (left) at Marintec China 2011

As the world emerges from the Great Recession, which has severely impacted the global maritime industry, China is poised to lead the recovery in its shipbuilding and offshore oil and gas sectors. However, Zhang Shengkun, director of the Shanghai Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers, said China’s shipbuilding industry needs to be restructured through mergers and acquisitions because 30% of the yards failed to gain new build orders.

China did maintain its position as the world’s top shipbuilding nation in 2011 as its yards received more orders than South Korea. Between January and November 2011, new orders were about 33.69 million deadweight tons, which accounted for 44.9% of the total global new ship orders of 75 million DWTs. But, China’s overall shipbuilding industry dropped to $13.5 billion, which is 40% less than the same period in 2010. In Q3 2011, six of the top ten Chinese yards did not receive new orders.

PHOTO: (right) is Simon Whitaker, Regional Director, Asia/Pacific , Martek Marine and Clayton Thomas, Regional Sales Director, North Asia, Martek Marine

While dry bulk cargo vessels and container ships have been the mainstay of China’s shipbuilding sector, orders dropped dramatically during 2011. The global downturn was most evident as the Baltic Dry Index declined 35% to around 1534 points on average during Q3 2011. Meanwhile, Japan and South Korean yards focused on high-value ships like seismic vessels, drillships, FPSOs and LNG carriers.

Marintec China 2011 signaled a sea-change for China’s shipbuilding industry as the government has committed an investment of about $1.5 trillion in developing its domestic energy industry between 2011-1015 with the major portion going to its offshore oil and gas sector. Marintec China will return to Shanghai in 2013.

Reported by Tony Munoz, Editor-in-Chief of the Maritime Executive Magazine and the MarEx Newsletter