Hamburg hosts the global shipping industry at SMM

The fully-booked exhibition halls will have 2,100 exhibitors from 67 countries and the show is expecting 50,000 visitors. Comfortable shoes are the order of the week for treading the miles of carpet crisscrossing the 12 exhibition halls; seasoned attendees and newcomers to the 26th installment of the Hamburg show would be well advised to download the SMM app too. Time is almost be up for arranging meetings with the software but having a free guide in your pocket with a full exhibitor list and floor plan, as well as the conference programme and show news, is a must for such a large show and a leap forward from the weighty show guides of old.

Adding some structure to the fair, each day has been assigned an overarching theme, from Monday to Friday: finance, environment, security, offshore and crewing. A headline conference on the first four days will discuss and investigate the hot topics in the maritime industry and offer delegates the chance to quiz the executives making decisions at the top, with the crewing day being led by a career fair.

Kicking off the conferences at 1010hrs on Monday morning, the Ship FInance Forum will cover topics on German Financing, Shipbuilding finance and exports, with an afternoon panel looking at global trends in finance from private equity to the bond market.

An important topic for what is a technology and equipment-heavy exhibition, Tuesday's environment day will be spearheaded by the global maritime environmental conference (gmec), which Seatrade Global looked ahead to last week, and was organised jointly by Seatrade and Hamburg Messe.

Navies and security experts take the stage on Wednesday for Maritime Security and Defence (MS&D), with topics covering security for commercial shipping, as well as security in a naval and technological sense.

No modern maritime exhibition would be complete without an offshore element, and Thursday's Offshore Dialogue has attracted authoritative speakers to cover the interaction of the offshore and shipping industries as well as the engineering challenges faced by the offshore wind and oil and gas sectors.

Friday sees the maritime fair turn to career fair, with the Maritime Career Market and free entry to the show floor for students. With exhibitors from maritime colleges to shipbuilders and equipment manufacturers, the Maritime Career Market is an opportunity for companies and potential employees to explore career paths in the maritime industry and its supporting sectors, along with the training opportunities and necessary skills to fill those roles.

For our part, Seatrade will be at stand 513 in hall B6 in the communications section, as well as scouring the show for breaking news for Seatrade Global's Live From SMM section. If you have a press event or newsworthy happening click here to email our team at SMM.

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