Maritime Industry Gears up for St. Petersburg

The impact of the massive and continuing transformation of Russia’s maritime industries will be on show to the world when the all-encompassing NEVA 2013 exhibition and conference program takes place in St. Petersburg from September 24-27.

Some 1,000 exhibiting companies and over 17,000 professional visitors are due to gather in the port city’s major Lenexpo exhibition complex where for the first time in NEVA’s 22-year history, exhibition space occupied by representatives from 50 countries will exceed 12,000 square meters, according to Roderick Keay, General Director of UK-headquartered Dolphin Exhibitions, the event organizer.

More than 60% of this space has been earmarked for Russia’s leading companies with the likes of the United Shipbuilding Corporation (representing 60 shipyards across the Russian Federation) and The Russian Register of Shipping, celebrating 100 years of contribution to maritime development and Transas Marine all taking center stage.

Sovcomflot recently signed an agreement with Gazprom to develop a fleet of gas tankers of 170,000 cubic meters capacity, with each vessel valued at more than $200 million and, with a number of other initiatives under discussion the stakes could not be higher for Russian or foreign companies.

Russian President Vladimir Putin referred recently to estimates putting domestic demand for shipbuilding at more than 510 ships with a total value in excess of $195 billion over the course of the next 15 years.

Speaking in Vladivostok, President Putin said, “In addition to specialist vessels for the offshore oil and gas fields, including drilling platforms, exploration vessels, supply ships and [vessels for] the Northern Sea Route, Russian yards should move into new ship types, and above all container ships and gas carriers."

Foreign participation at NEVA 2013 will be headed by representation from the International Maritime Organization. National pavilions will be organized by countries including China, Germany, South Korea, Denmark, The Netherlands, France, Finland and the United Kingdom.

The list of leading global attendees will include executives from Norwegian classification society Det Norske Veritas, Italian shipbuilder FincantieriNavale, German companies Nordic Shipyards and BrieseSchiffahrts, and AMEC Kromav, the Brazilian specialist company for shipbuilding, shipyard and offshore facilities.

In the exhibition and conference program, plenary and eight technical sessions will focus on all aspects of commercial maritime activity, with presentations on shipbuilding, ship technology, Arctic shipping, high speed vessels, LNG, ship repair, safety, hydrography and offshore activities.

Among the list of prominent speakers from Russia will be representatives from The Ministry of Industry and Trade, the Ministry for Transport and ZVEZDA OAO, engaged in the development, manufacture, sale, marketing and repair of diesel engines.

NEVA 2013 will also be marked by a number of significant bi-lateral and specialist seminars including
a special plenary conference and round table discussion devoted to the official Year of Holland and Russia addressing sea and river transport, a presentation and reception by the Federal State Mecklenburg-West Pomerania attended by the minister for economics, Harry Glawe, and Finland/Russia business to business meetings organized by the Finnish Marine Industries Association.

For full details of the NEVA 2013 shipbuilding conference can be found online at http://neva.transtec-neva.com/conf.html .

To view a detailed schedule of the NEVA 2013 exhibition, seminar and conference timetable visit http://neva.transtec-neva.com/program.html

transtec-neva.com