Sea Asia 2017 to address the key concerns of regional industry leaders

On Tuesday evening Seatrade and the Singapore Maritime Foundation (SMF) officially launched the Sea Asia 2017 Exhibition and Conference to a packed reception of top industry executives at the Marina Bay Sands in Singapore.

To be held from 25 – 27 April 2017 at Marina Bay Sands Sea Asia 2017 will address the leading concerns of the industry with new innovative themes and formats.

Speaking at the event SMF chairman Andreas Sohmen-Pao said: “Sea Asia serves as a platform the global maritime community to share views, develop ideas and debate issues.

“It helps to connect us with other key leaders and professionals in the industry. It helps to ensure Asia has a voice, and it cements Singapore’s standing as a thought leader and an international maritime centre.”

Ahead of the bi-annual event, and its sixth edition in 2017, a survey was undertaken of regional industry leaders on their top concerns. Despite the current difficult times all those concerned expressed a long-term confidence in the maritime and offshore industries.

“We intend to ensure conference programme reflects the real pre-occupations of this industry and its leadership,” said Chris Hayman chairman of Seatrade.

Much of this focuses on the technological revolution that the maritime industries are undergoing. The survey found that 94% of leaders thought it was time for the industry to fully embrace “Smart Shipping”, 88% believe that it is important to provide high bandwith and secure broadband on ships today given the role of online communications in modern business, and 81% said that big data is crucial.

Ensuring that the maritime industries have the skilled staff to meet these challenges is of critical importance.

While focusing on new areas Sea Asia 2017 will continue to address traditional areas such as shipping markets, finance and offshore, but with new and exciting formats. One such innovation will be a parliamentary style debate with industry leaders debating a motion on a key industry issue on which the audience will then vote.

The traditional, and highly popular Sea Asia keynote session on the first day will be retained and chaired by hard talking broadcaster Stephen Sackur.