After a four-year break from live exhibitions, the maritime community gathered in Hamburg again (6-9 September 2022) for the four-day SMM trade show. With the 2021 show a virtual affair, it was a successful return to in person in the port city for SMM.
Supply chain disruption, alternative propulsion technologies, e-fuels were all topics up for discussion at the 30th edition of the show as attendees discussed the challenges facing the shipping industry. It is an industry that is facing the enormous challenge to retrofit its fleet of roughly 60,000 merchant ships progressively to make them more eco- and climate-friendly.
Bernd Aufderheide, president and CEO, Hamburg Messe und Congress GmbH, reported that the 2022 show occupied the venue’s entire exhibition campus. There were 2,000 exhibiting companies and 30,000 industry visitors from more than 100 countries.
“It fills me with pride that we have been able to win so many top-level representatives of enterprises and institutions and so many accomplished experts for this event, both on the exhibitors’ side and for the accompanying conferences,” Aufderheide said.
Speakers at the show’s conferences included: Claudia Müller, the German federal maritime coordinator, Dr Uwe Lauber, CEO, MAN Energy Solutions, Lars Robert Pedersen, deputy secretary general, BIMCO, Steve Gordon, Managing Director, Clarksons Research and Wolfram Guntermann, director regulatory affairs, Hapag-Lloyd AG.
Gordon said he was surprised how well the shipping industry had managed the crisis, noting that global order books reveal that shipyards are fully booked for the next two to three years. The share of new orders for ships with alternative propulsion systems is above 40%, including many new builds designed to operate on LNG, he said. “We are just at the start of a huge fuel transition, with a fleet renewal programme that will require massive investment, technology change and innovation,” Gordon added. What is missing, he said, was not money, since “the shipping industry earned well during the pandemic,” but rather the regulatory framework.
Aufderheide added that he was confident that SMM would deliver the right impetus for the maritime energy transition: “I am sure that after these four tightly packed days visitors and exhibitors alike will take home plenty of important insights – and return to SMM in 2024.”
SMM was officially opened by its honorary patron, German chancellor Olaf Scholz, in a video message. Scholz underlined the importance of the maritime sector saying: “’That ship has sailed’ (is a phrase) we often use to mark a lost opportunity. But for you as participants at SMM, every ship that leaves port and sets sail is an opportunity. And you have come exactly to the right place to discuss these opportunities.” He also pointed to the important role of shipping in transporting alternative fuels such as methanol and hydrogen.
