The Ukrainian Maritime Cluster participated in the International Maritime Exhibition #Europort2021 at the Joint Ukrainian booth, which took place from 2-5 of November in Rotterdam Ahoy. Europort 2021 is one of the largest Exhibitions for special purpose vessels and smart solutions in the maritime and port industries, which was attended by more than 26,000 professionals this year. Ukrainian maritime and shipbuilding industries were represented at Europort for the second time.
The interests of its participants were focused on innovative technologies and complex shipbuilding, attracting professionals from all over the world. Europort 2021 on the most relevant key themes for our industry: Digitalization, Energy Transition, Ship Finance, Next Generation. Participation in the Exhibition for Ukrainian companies was an opportunity to discover new tools for solving business problems, to present innovative projects, as well as to have B2B meetings in order to establish professional cooperation.
The Ukrainian delegation involved the Ukrainian Maritime Cluster members, which were represented at the Joint Ukrainian booth, including: “Intellectual Maritime Technologies”, the Smart Maritime Group, “Marine Design Engineering Mykolayiv”, Scientific & Production Corporation “Kliver”, and also the partners: International magazine “Shipping”, Mediacompass and the Enterprise Europe Network Ukraine. The booth was also visited by representatives of “C-Job Nikolaev” and leading engineering companies of Poland.
An important part of the first day of the Exhibition was the meeting of UMC members with Arjen Uytendaal, President of the #ENMC (The European Network of Maritime Clusters).
UMC representatives in their presentation told about the progress of the Cluster institutionalization since the last meeting at Europort 2019. The next steps in the UMC, ENMC and European clusters cooperation were discussed, which included the conclusion of memorandum of cooperation and participation in joint grant projects, especially in programs of the Black Sea countries development.
A meeting with the officers on economic affairs of the Embassy of Ukraine in the Netherlands Mr. Sharkov and Mr. Buchok also took place at the booth, as well as with a number of clusters’ representatives, shipowners, interested in Ukrainian companies – UMC members – and their services, projects, initiatives of the Cluster.
The second day of Europort 2021 seemed no less eventful than the first one. Representatives of the UMC toured the Exhibition, establishing contacts with representatives of the media and publishers of the maritime industry, getting acquainted with issues and the latest news.
Stanislav Seleznov, MDEM Head of Engineering Services Department, shared his impressions of the Exhibition and business meetings: “We were able to visit our colleagues from innovative companies, get acquainted with their products and learn about the latest achievements in the industry, including in the field of power electronic semiconductor technology. And given that most of MDEM projects are electric vessels over the last years, the relevance of the visit is obvious. So we are waiting for new information and interesting cooperation!” Read about other insights of Europort 2021 participant via the link: https://bit.ly/3EUVJpn.
According to UMC representatives’ feedback involved in Europort 2021, the exhibition exceeded all expectations, especially during the long period of pandemic and business activity declining. The special atmosphere of interest, involvement in the theme of the event, called of the absolute conviction of the audience about the importance of shipbuilding development as an integral component of industry in each country and Ukraine in particular.
In addition to the huge amount of useful information and pleasant emotions from the first since the beginning of the pandemic international maritime industry offline event, Europort 2021 for UMC became a unique opportunity to discuss future plans with partners and current initiatives of the Cluster, view popular maritime publications, explore current maritime trends and establish new business contacts live.
Therefore, we hope that negotiations and reached agreements will be a powerful impetus for the development of the Ukrainian Maritime Cluster and the industry as a whole. We are looking forward to the next opportunity for the Cluster to participate in events of a similar scale and direction!
We express our gratitude to the Mediacompass for the implementation of the initiative of the Ukrainian delegation participation and to the «Конкурентоспроможна економіка України» for its strong support. We hope that established contacts will become a guarantee of future synergistic cooperation!
You can also find information about representatives’ of the Ukrainian maritime industry participation in the international exhibition EUROPORT 2021 on the pages of Ukrainian National News Agency «Ukrinform» and International Maritime Magazine «SHIPPING».