Liu Zhiliang

On December 4, the opening ceremony of the most influential and the largest maritime professional exhibition in the world -- 2023 China International Maritime Technology Academic Conference and Exhibition(Marintec China 2023) was held in Shanghai. Known as the development trend weathervane of the international maritime industry, this exhibition is the first exhibition of the China International Maritime Exhibition for the next 20 sessions. It is also the first time returning to personal attendance after four years, which attracts the attention of the global industry.

Founded at the beginning of reform and opening up, Marintec China has been held in Shanghai every two years since 1981 (suspended in 2021 due to the pandemic). This year is the 21st consecutive session. After more than 40 years of development and accumulation, Marintec China has become one of the two largest and most influential ones in the world. It has witnessed the continuous development of China's shipbuilding industry to build a world shipbuilding power. As the bridge and link for China and the international maritime industry seeking all-round, multi-level cooperation and an important window for the international maritime understanding of Chinese shipbuilding and marine engineering equipment, shipping, port sectors, Marintec China has played a promoting role in communication and cooperation between Chinese and international maritime industry in technology, economic and trade cooperation, ship financing, safety insurance, rules and regulations, and environmental protection.

The overall scale of this exhibition is the largest ever, attracting more than 2,000 exhibitors from more than 30 countries and regions, about 42% are from overseas enterprises, enterprises from 15 countries and regions, including Denmark, Germany, Japan, South Korea, Norway, the United States, the United Kingdom and China, participated in the form of national or regional pavilions. Including CSSC, COSCO Shipping, China Merchants Industrial Group, Zhenhua Heavy Industry,Hyundai, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries,Kawasaki Heavy Industries, Tsuneishi,ABB, Siemens, MacGregor, Kongsberg Maritime, Mann, Rolls-Royce,Wartsila, Cummins, Schneider, Ulstein and Osieren, major industry giants and well-known enterprises attended the exhibition. With the continuous growth of China's shipbuilding and marine engineering equipment industry chain, both the exhibition area and the number of exhibitors in the domestic pavilion exceed more than 10% of the largest scale in history. In addition to enterprises from Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan, a total of enterprises from 24 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities participate in the exhibition. In terms of the number of exhibitors, exhibitors from Jiangsu,Zhejiang, Shanghai, Shandong and Guangdong ranked the top five in the number of exhibitors. Centering on the theme of the integrated development of the Yangtze River Delta, Nantong,Zhoushan and Shanghai Pudong continue to organize groups to attend the exhibition, and Zhenjiang area made its first appearance. Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Harbin Engineering University, Wuhan University of Technology, Jiangsu University of Science and Technology and other ship-related universities will also continue to appear in the exhibition.The student creator exhibition zone located in W1 Hall exhibits some outstanding award-winning works of the National Ocean Vehicle Design and Production Competition. At the same time, this exhibition has attracted more than 70,000 professional visitors from more than 100 countries and regions.Compared with the last year, all the data have been improved and reached a new high.

In recent years, the recovery trend of the shipbuilding market has accelerated significantly, and the pace of decarbonization of the global maritime industry has accelerated.Major enterprises have shown their reserves of green and low-carbon new ship types, new technologies and other aspects in the exhibition. CSSC focuses on displaying and releasing a series of green and low-carbon ship types and technologies. COSCO Shipping shows the country's first 24188 TEU methanol dual-fueled VLCS, 700 TEU pure battery power river-sea transport container ship, FPSO, jack-up wind power installation ship and series digital products. China Merchants Group released 11,000CEU PCTC,180,000 m3 LNG carriers, 200,000 m3 LNG carriers and other ships. The comprehensive display of relevant exhibits and technologies will further promote the shipping industry into a new era of green shipping.

Low carbon and zero carbon has become the future development trend of the shipbuilding industry, low emissions or zero emissions technology and products keep emerging at the exhibition. Wartsila innovation new engine, world leading decarbonization solution in Mann energy solutions,Kongsberg overall propulsion system and products and their hybrid and pure electric solutions, ABB ship from propeller to bridge integrated solutions and services, Mitsubishi marine engine will appear at the maritime exhibition, CATL will launch its latest ship power products, which is of great value to the future development of ship power. In recent years, with the continuous development of automatic navigation ship technology, unmanned boats have become the focus of the industry. Zhuhai Yunzhou will focus on a number of unmanned ship products and cutting-edge application cases,and through the on-site unmanned ship control base station, the audience can experience the unmanned ship control; Kongsberg will launch a more optimized K-Chief ship monitoring alarm and control system, which also arranged the control console as a demonstration. Founded in 2017,Marintec Cruise theme exhibition this year continues to launch "Cruise Interiors Exhibition Zone", with the support of the Cruise ＆ Yacht Branch of the China Tourism Automobile And Cruise Association (CTACA), the overall exhibitors’ number and level have further uplifted, in addition to the key interior fitting enterprises, the zone also focuses on growing interior fitting supply chain enterprises in recent years. The exhibition zone sets up a cruise experience area, including the kitchen area, dining area, deck area, theater, reception area, passenger cabin, suite and ship duty area. Some functional areas in the experience area will be provided for exhibitors to hold various activities, among which the theater will be open to important enterprises and boutique activities as the forum area. All kinds of wonderful activities held every day will further highlight the characteristics of this exhibition.

The Senior Maritime Forum Conference is held on December 4 to 7, the theme of "Innovation,Intelligence, Low carbon", including"Keynote Address", "Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering", "Shipping"and Port", "Maritime Finance and Law", "Ship and Marine Engineering Eequipment and Technology", and a special forum "Cruise" is added. The content of the Senior Maritime Forum Conferenc adheres to innovation,fits the development progress of the current "decarbonization" plan of the maritime industry, and reflects the latest development trend of the current international maritime industry. Mr.Morten Boskov, Minister for Industry,Business and Finantial Affairs of the Kingdom of Denmark, Mr. Ottar Ostnes,Director General for Maritime Policy and Coastal Development in the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Fisheries,Norway, Mr. Guy Platten, Secretary General of the International Chamber of Shipping, Mr. Ottar Ostnes, Director General for Maritime Policy and Coastal Development in the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Fisheries,Norway, Mr. Roberto P. Cazzulo, Chair Elect of the International Association of Classification Societies (IACS),Mr. Stephen Gordon, Global Head of Clarkson Research, Dr. Martin Stopford, Executive Director, Maritime Economics for Professionals, Lin Zhongqin, Academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and other dignitaries and industry well-known experts address the conference,high-level reports further highlight the status of the global industry event. In addition to the Senior Maritime Forum Conference, during the exhibitioin period, government departments, relevant industry organizations, media and enterprises also spontaneously hold various forums, technical exchange meetings,product launches, signing ceremonies and award ceremonies, and the number of activities reach hundreds.The Pudong Shipping Week held at the same time has nearly 50 academic,business, sports and cultural leisure activities. Various wonderful activities jointly promote Shanghai to once again become the center of the global maritime industry.