It drew a veritable "who’s who" of leading figures from companies within the shipbuilding, defence and offshore industries, including equipment and service providers. Most, if not all, were demonstrating a positive attitude towards the future, even considering the slowdown in Petrobras orders, the national operator having been the main driver of the Brazilian maritime industry over the last decade.
Organised by UBM, Marintec South America 2015 is the 12th Navalshore event and has over 380 companies participating, from 17 countries, including seven pavilions, over an area of 11 thousand square meters.
The VIP panel at the opening ceremony was composed of State and Federal authorities and industry leaders including Marco Capute, Secretary of Economic, Energy, Industry and Services Development for the State of Rio de Janeiro; Admiral Eduardo Bacellar Leal, representing the Brazilian Chief of the Navy; Raul Sanson Vice-president of Firjan (Federation of Industries of the State of Rio de Janeiro); Eloí Fernández y Fernández, Director of ONIP (National Organization of the Petroleum Industry); Rodrigo Bacellar, Superintendent at BNDES (National Development Bank); Agenor Junqueira President of Sobena (Brazilian Society of Naval Engineering); Sergio Bassi, Executive-President of ABENAV (Brazilian Association of Maritime Construction and Offshore Companies); João Rossi, Director of MDIC (Development, Industry and International Commerce Ministry); Rossano Macedo e Silva, Regional Director of Caixa Econômica Federal (Federal Development Bank); and Adalberto Tokarski – Development Manager at ANTAQ (National Agency of Inner Waterway Transport).
The speech at the opening ceremony by Michael Duck, Executive Vice-President of UBM Asia, highlighted optimism in the local industries. “Marintec South America represents a strong commitment in the South American market and we are optimistic of the exciting economic developments in this region and the vast market for the Maritime Industry in the future,” he said.
Such optimism despite the current slowing of regional economies together with the effects of low oil prices and Petrobras’ internal problems set the tone of ensuing presentations. In particular it was notable that representatives of important local investment banks such as BNDES and Caixa Econômica Federal were very positive about new financing solutions for the industry.
In other Leaders Forum presentations, industry leaders, government authorities, academics and engineers all discussed the challenges imposed by the current economic crisis, the drivers that led to this crisis and possible long and short-term solutions. While not always in agreement, and often in complete disagreement, this industry-wide debate represented a welcome opportunity to exchange views from nearly all segments of the local shipbuilding and offshore industries that were in attendance, as well as from a range of international visitors participating in the debates.
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