ShipTek 2008

ShipTek 2008, the regions premiere event on International Conference on Shipbuilding and Conversion Technology has drawn the worldwide maritime attention to the Port City of Kochi. The much awaited ShipTek 2008 was inaugurated on 29th April 2008, Tuesday, 9.00 am at Hotel Taj Residency. Mr. Noboru Ueda, Chairman & President, Class NK, Japan, lit the lamp and inaugurated the prestigious event organized by Marine BizTV and Aries Marine.

The mega event was sponsored by the members of International Association of Class Societies (IACS) like Class NK, Germanischer Lloyd and RINA. Other lead players like Keppel Offshore & Marine, MSI, Transas, Zebec Marine and Seagull Marine were also among the sponsors. The event was co sponsored by Master Shipyard. Over 200 delegates from all part of the world marked their presence for the biggest maritime convergence in South Asia.

The conference had four sessions on the most relevant current issues of the maritime world scheduled for two consecutive days, out of which two sessions including eleven paper presentations were scheduled for the first day. The theme of the conference was trends, new concepts/technology, commerce surrounding the design, construction of new vessels and conversion of the existing ones.

The topics for paper presentation for the first day were Indian Shipbuilding Industry and its Future Prospects, Super Eco-Ship - A Human and Environmentally Friendly Ship, World Shipbuilding Trends & Korea Shipbuilding Industry, Strength Aspects and Weather Routing of Multi-Purpose Ships, Assessment of Hull Structural Slamming Loads on High Speed Planing Crafts, Design and Strength Assessment of Moonpool Region and Development of Design of Heavy Lift Cum Pipelay Vessels LTS 3000.

ShipTek Expo 2008, the exhibition showcasing the latest technology and trends in the Shipbuilding industry was also inaugurated on 29th April 2008 at Hotel Taj Residency at 1.00 pm. Mr. Kevin Shakesheff, ICS, UK and Rear. Admiral Ajit Tewari, Indian Shipbuilders Association, India inaugurated ShipTek expo 2008. ShipTek Expo constituted exhibitors from all part of the globe like Keppel O&M, Singapore; Class NK, Japan; MSI, Singapore; Walport International, UK; Aries Marine, UAE; Zebec Marine, India; Transas, Russia; Marine BizTV, UAE, Fogtec, Germany; GL, Germany and Pacific Technology, UAE.

The second and final day of ShipTek 2008 was resumed on 30th April 2008. There were two sessions included for the final day. The topics included in the first session were Conversion of Single Hull Tankers, Some Major Design Aspects of FPSO Conversion, Opportunities & Challenges in Rigs and Repair & Upgrade of Drilling Rigs. There was also a special presentation on Role of Visual Media in the Maritime Industry. The papers presented for the last session included Support to Shipping through Professional Education, Role of Technology in Shipping Industry, Maritime Arbitration in Asia and ‘India - an Emerging Outsourcing Destination for Ship Design’. ShipTek Expo also continued to the second day and all the exhibition stalls were closed at 6.00 pm.

Associating with the media partners - DVV Media, Ship Repair and Conversion Technology, MAREX, Water Link, Sailor Today, The Marine World, Shipping Today, LOG India, DiveStyle, EXIM, Ships and Shipping, The Maritime Executive, Transport Weekly, Baird Maritime and Work Boat World, the event got a wider publicity all around the globe even before the commencement itself.

The support and assistance from the worldwide maritime corporate transformed the entire facet of the event into an ever-memorable networking experience to the delegates and to the Shipbuilding industry as a whole. The live telecast of the event is was available at http://live.marinebiztv.com/ on 29 & 30 April 2008. This is also the first event in the maritime industry, which had a live telecast.