The Anniversary 15th International Maritime Exhibition and Conference for Civil Shipping, Shipbuilding, Offshore Energy, Ports, Inland and Waterways Oceanography NEVA 2019 which opened in St. Petersburg at Expoforum CEC on September 17, completed its work on September 20.
Attending the opening ceremony were Governor-elect of St. Petersburg, Co-Chairman of the Organizing Committee of the NEVA 2019 Exhibition and Conference Alexander Beglov, Deputy Minister of Transport of the Russian Federation — Head of the Federal Agency for Sea and River Transport Yuri Tsvetkov, Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation Oleg Ryazantsev and President of the United Shipbuilding Corporation JSC Alexey Rakhmanov. Other speakers at the event included Esben Poulsson, Chairman of the International Chamber of Shipping (ICS), Sandra R. Allnutt, Head of Marine Technology and Gravity Platforms of the Maritime Safety Committee of the UN International Maritime Organization, and Christian Pegel, Minister of Energy, Infrastructure and Digitalization of the Federal Land of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania (Germany).
The shipbuilding exhibition has come to the right place, said Governor-elect Beglov. It was here that 1704 the Russian shipbuilding industry started at the Admiralty Shipyards. Today the shipbuilding industry of the city, which has unique technologies and great potential, is of considerable interest to foreign companies from the point of view of long-term cooperation.
In the message sent to organizers and participants of the event, the Minister of Transport of the Russian Federation Yevgeny Dietrich mentioned the key role of Russia in the development of safe shipping and navigation. He also mentioned the synergistic effect of the partnership between Russian and foreign experts, which is achieved at the NEVA event.
Oleg Ryazantsev, Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation, called the exhibition a successful business platform, which demonstrates various achievements of Russian shipbuilding. He also mentioned that the participants of NEVA discussed the prospects for the development of the industry, including top priority areas of building icebreaker ships, large-tonnage cargo ships and passenger vessels.
Yuri Tsvetkov, Deputy Minister of Transport of the Russian Federation and Head of the Federal Agency for Maritime and River Transport, said that the NEVA exhibition and conference promoted effective interaction between the shipping and shipbuilding industries and helped reveal their multiplicative socio-economic potential.
As usual, the 2019 edition of Neva exhibition is held with the support of the Ministry of Transport of the Russian Federation, the Ministry of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, the Government of St. Petersburg, the Maritime Collegium under the Government of the Russian Federation, the Federal Agency for Fisheries, the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Russian Federation, and the Maritime Council under the Government of St. Petersburg.
This year the exhibition brought together a record number of exhibitors with 654 companies in attendance. A total of 243 of those came from abroad, and 411 were Russian.
Norway, Denmark, and The Netherlands presented their exhibits in separate pavilions; companies from Turkey and Korea were represented more compactly. Regions of Russia were represented by companies from Sevastopol, Tatarstan, the Far East and Primorsky Krai.
According to Christian Pegel, Minister of the Federal Land of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, this German region was represented by 15 enterprises and organizations. All of them were engaged in negotiations throughout the period of the exhibition. “The negotiations were important and quite intensive, and this shows that the shipbuilding industry and those suppliers of these enterprises, in Russia and in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, speak the same language - and this is the language of economic success,” said Mr. Pegel.
The exhibitors presented the achievements of the shipbuilding industry, design and engineering, advanced technologies and equipment for shipbuilding and operation of ships, development and extraction of mineral resources of the ocean and the ocean shelf. The participants of the anniversary 15th exhibition NEVA 2019 including leading Russian shipbuilding companies, design institutes, suppliers of equipment for ships and shipping companies. Among them were the USC, Admiralteyskie Verfi, Lazurit CDB, Krylov State Science Center, Sea Navigation Systems, Progress All-Russian R&D Institute, CSBSRT, MT Group, Sevkavbel, MSS, Tranzas, and many others.
Several unique vessels and equipment were presented at the exhibition for the first time. These included the first propeller printed on a 3D printer, the first Russian-made Ecovolt electric catamaran developed by R&D Corporation Morsvyazavtomatika. They worked via a common DC bus with the energy supplied by high-energy battery drives of electric motor systems, other exhibits included the North Pole ice-resistant self-propelling platform, the model of Project 170701 “Captain Sokolov” lead trawler processor, elements of M-400D (M-401D) high pressure diesel fuel engines.
The USC stand at the exhibition presented a ceremony of naming a new ship; this ceremony took place at the exhibition, not at the shipbuilding yard, for the first time.
The exposition of the Center for Small and Small Tonnage Shipbuilding was presented for the first time as a separate section, and the conference on this upcoming trend, which is gaining popularity in Russia, was included in the business program.
The total exhibition area exceeded 30,000 square meters. The stands also presented navigation systems, port technologies, and cargo processing systems, electrical and electronic technology, modern materials and components.
Shipbuilding and shipping companies from 29 countries were represented at the exhibition and in the business program, including companies from the UK, Germany, Greece, Denmark, The Netherlands, Iceland, Spain, Italy, Canada, China, Cyprus, Norway, Poland, Portugal, the Republic of Belarus, the Republic of Korea, Senegal, the Baltic States, Turkey, Sweden, Finland, France, and Japan.
The exhibition occupied 3 pavilions — F, G, H, the Passage and the inter-pavilion space, which housed the exhibition of small shipbuilding vessels - boats, yachts, and high-speed hovercraft.
To ensure maximum efficiency of participation, increase business activity and guarantee comfortable work at the exhibition, the organizers of NEVA 2019 introduced cutting-edge formats of congress and exhibition activities for the first time. These included special presentation zones, agreement signing zones, and a lounge-style business communication zone, designed to look like a ship’s main cabin.
The press center with internet access and all the necessary equipment allowed representatives of mass media to work in comfort and deliver more news about the event.
Several food service areas and a large open reception area were also set up.
In the evening the participants enjoyed an entertainment program — a gala dinner and a river boat tour.
The business program of NEVA-2019 consisted of 39 thematic events, which covered the entire range of issues of importance for the industry. The total number of participants of the business program exceeded 3500 people.
The plenary session was formatted as a dialog between Russian and foreign experts on important issues of the industry and the role of Russia in international cooperation. Speakers at the plenary session included Deputy Minister of Transport of the Russian Federation — Head of the Federal Agency for Sea and River Transport Yuri Tsvetkov, Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation Oleg Ryazantsev, President of JSC USC Alexey Rakhmanov, Sandra R. Allnutt, Head of Marine Technology and Gravity Platforms of the Maritime Safety Committee of the UN International Maritime Organization, Deputy General Director and Director of the Northern Sea Route Directorate of Rosatom State Corporation Vyacheslav Ruksha, and Academic Advisor of FSUE Krylov State Research Center Valery Polovinkin. The experts who presented their reports included Chairman of the International Chamber of Shipping (ICS) Esben Poulsson, Head of the Russian Representative Office of the Korean Marine Equipment Association Nam Young Kang, Managing Director of Fiskerstrand Holding (Norway) Rolf Fiskerstrand, President of the Russian Chamber of Shipping Alexey Klyavin, and General Director of FSUE Atomflot Mustafa Kashka.
The most popular among the specialists were such congress and business events as the seminar on practical implementation of Russian Government Order No. 719; the panel discussion on development of cruise ship routes, where JSC Vympel presented the concept design of a unique Arctic cruise ship; the session dedicated to cutting-edge composite materials for shipbuilding; the conference on sustainable alternative fuels; the roundtable discussion on use of digital technologies, as well as a conference of the Center for Small-Size and Small-Tonnage Shipbuilding. Additionally, the USC Corporation organized the Russian-Korean Supplier Day.
Participating in various sessions and seminars as expects were the leading specialists in the field, including Evgeny Trunin, Director General of FAU Russian River Register; Gennady Egorov, Director of the Marine Engineering Bureau; Vadim Akimov, Director of Damen Holdings Russia; Sergey Baryshnikov, Rector of FSEHE Admiral Makarov State University of Sea and River Fleet; Gleb Turichin, Rector of Saint-Petersburg State Marine Technical University; Deputy Chairman of the Association of Waterways of Finland Pekka Koskinen; Deputy Head of the Department of Sea and River Transport of the Ministry of Transport and Communications of the Republic of Belarus Alexandra Spichevskaya, Head of Business Environmental Responsibility Program of WWF Russia Alexey Knizhnikov, and others.
A number of negotiations and agreement-signing procedures took place on the sidelines of the exhibition. A series of business meetings and consultations on important cooperation projects with Russian and foreign exhibitors of NEVA-2019 were held by Deputy Minister of Transport of the Russian Federation — Head of the Federal Agency for Sea and River Transport Yuri Tsvetkov, Deputy Head of the Russian Sea and River Fleet Authority Viktor Vovk, Director of the Department of State Policy in Sea and River Transport of the Ministry of Transport of the Russian Federation Yuri Kostin, and other representatives of the Ministry of Transport. On the second day of the exhibition, a business breakfast was held by exhibition organizers with participation of consuls representing six countries — Norway, Poland, Spain, Turkey, Finland and the Republic of Korea.
The Agreement Signing Zone held signing ceremonies with participation of the following parties: Transtekhnika Belarusian Research Institute of Transport and Admiral Makarov State University of Maritime and Inland Shipping (on cooperation in the sphere of personnel training); GTLK PJSC and Krasnoye Sormovo Plant PJSC, who signed an agreement on providing an option for construction of 20 dry cargo vessels of Project RSD59; PJSC GTLK and the Administration of Krasnoyarsk Krai (the memorandum of intention to build and lease two passenger ships intended for operation between Krasnoyarsk and Dudinka up and down the Yenisey River).
Additionally, Ak Bars Shipbuilding Company JSC and the Agency for Development of the Far East, Attraction of Investments and Support of Export used the USC stand to sign an agreement to implement joint projects with shipbuilding plants of the Far East and Primorsky Krai in the sphere of shipbuilding, ship repair and design.
According to statistical data, as compared to the event of 2017, the area of exhibition increased by 15.7 %, the number of companies taking part in the event increased by 7.3 %, and the total number of visitors amounted to 24720 which is 4700 (19 %) more people than a year ago.
The business program included 39 events: 7 conferences, 4 seminars, 3 roundtable discussions, 3 technical sessions, 5 presentations, and 5 signing ceremonies.
The events of the exhibition were covered by 120 journalists representing 64 media outlets, including 6 television companies, 12 news agencies, 11 print and 34 industry publications, and 30 of then served as official information partners of the event.
Neva Exhibition is the largest civilian shipbuilding exhibition in Eastern Europe and throughout the USSR; this is the first in Russia and one of top 5 largest exhibitions in this industry.
Neva is a well-established international platform for business cooperation and expert dialogue among specialists creating civilian vessels of various purposes, marine technical equipment for the development of the ocean and the ocean shelf, including the Arctic zone and the Northern Sea Route. Other experts targeted by the exhibition are those involved in development of shipping on inland waterways, modernization of fishing and specialized fleet, and upgrading the port equipment.
The NEVA Exhibition and Conference was first held in 1990 by joint order of the Ministry of Shipbuilding Industry and the Ministry of Sea Fleet of the USSR, and has been held every year since1991.
On October 21, 2013 the Government of the Russian Federation issued Order No. 1910-p on holding the Neva Exhibition.
Objectives of the Exhibition:
- to represent a broad range of achievements of the maritime industry. To demonstrate the prospects in design, production, delivery, servicing, repairing and modernizing sea and river equipment for civilian purposes;
- to present innovative projects for development of the shipbuilding industry, introduce new technologies in production of civil vessels and marine equipment, as well as to help modernize ports and improve security and shipping practices;
- to facilitate integration in shipbuilding between regional shipbuilding and other industry clusters to improve their competitiveness;
- to create an effective platform for establishing new business contacts and partnerships, to stimulate interregional and transnational chains for long-term productive cooperation, to facilitate international transfer of technology and localize manufacturing of shipbuilding products.
Event Venue: St. Petersburg, Peterburgskoe shosse 64/1, Expoforum CEC, Pavilions F, G, H
Organizers: NEVA-International LLC, Dolphin Exhibitions Limited
Venue Operator: Expoforum International LLC