Seatrade Maritime Qatar 2025 to open new opportunities between local and global maritime companiesSeatrade Maritime Qatar 2025 to open new opportunities between local and global maritime companies

Hamad Mohammed Al-Nasr, Director of Trade Development and Investment Promotion, Ministry of Commerce and Industry delivered the official keynote address for Day 2 of the inaugural Seatrade Maritime Qatar 2025 event in Doha, Qatar stating that “This conference represents an opportunity to explore new areas of fruitful cooperation between Qatar and its global partners and is an opportunity to exchange knowledge and experiences and enhance cooperation, and will contribute to opening new opportunities between companies and institutions.”

Speaking to more than 200 delegates, Mr Al-Nasr said: “This event is the first of its kind in Qatar - an important platform that brings together experts and specialists from all over the world in the fields of maritime transportation and logistics through which we aim to expand our network of international partnerships in the maritime transportation and logistics sector.

He added: “The Ministry of Commerce and Industry continues to cooperate with all local and international partners to develop strategies and initiatives that contribute to enhancing the efficiency and sustainability of all vital sectors, including the maritime sector, in line with its 2024-2030 development strategy.”

The opening keynote was followed by a Fireside Chat between Seatrade Maritime News content director, Emma Howell and Hassan Alemadi, Senior Director Business Accounts, Oredoo Qatar, telecom sponsor of Seatrade Maritime Qatar which led the way to a panel session on ‘The Digital Maritime Industry – is it here, near and secure?’

Discussion centred around the fact that digitalization in the maritime industry is projected to be worth $423.4 billion by 2031 and whether the solutions are safe from growing cybersecurity threats? The panel included Nick Chubb, CEO and founder of Thetius; Eng. Asmaa Abdulaziz Mirzaei, IT Manager, Mwani Qatar; Jassim Al-Majid, VP, Information Technology, Milaha; Gareth Burton, Senior Vice President, Global Engineering, ABS; Mr. Ghassan Kosta, Regional Manager, Google Cloud and Julian Panter, CEO, SmartSea.

The conversation continued during a sixth session, ‘Offshore expansion & the North Field project’ led by moderator, Fazel Fazelbhoy CEO, Synergy Offshore FZ LLE and panellists: Ahmed Desouki, Lead-Civil, SFSF Project Manager, Onshore Works Section – Projects & Engineering Directorate, Hamad Port Project; Danial Kaabi, CEO, SeaHorizon Offshore and Ali. A. Shehab, Global Director of Special Projects & Services, DNV.

The final session of the inaugural Seatrade Maritime Qatar - Financing Tech Advanced & Green Fleets of The Future – generated much audience participation in a discussion led by Adam Kent, MD, Maritime Strategies International and panellists: Ali Abouda, Group CFO, Gulf Navigation; Capt Zarir Irani, Dy. Registrar for “Antigua and Barbuda” maritime registry; Chinar Zaidi, Managing Associate, Maritime, Trade & Offshore, Middle East, Stephenson Harwood and Tajas Shah, CFO, Tomini Group.

The event, the first of its kind in the State of Qatar, brought together key stakeholders in the maritime sector, governmental and semi-governmental entities, as well as innovators in the fields of technology, energy, finance, investment and services, in addition to the most prominent suppliers, decision-makers and shipping companies.

Seatrade Maritime Qatar ended on Wednesday 5th February at Sheraton Resort Hotel and Convention Centre and was been generously supported by Main Sponsors: Qatar Ports, Founding Strategic Partner; Ooredoo, Communications Sponsor; Qatar Airways, Official Airline; Visit Qatar, Destination Sponsor. Main Sponsors include: Qatar Free Zones Authority; Milaha Group and QTerminals Group. Diamond sponsors include Saudi Ports Authority and Nakilat. Platinum Sponsors: Invest Qatar; ABS. Gold Sponsors: Lloyd’s Register (LR), DNV; Bureau Veritas; MSC Qatar & MEDLOG; Genesis Marine and Sea Horizon. Silver Sponsor: Mowasalat (Karwa) and Bronze Sponsor: Middle East Fuji Group.