The opening of Saudi Maritime & Logistics Congress (SMLC) saw Bahri CEO Eng Ahmed Alsubaey exhorting participants to ‘dream big and achieve bigger’.

 

Addressing a packed audience on day 1 of the two-day conference and exhibition which takes place at Dhahran Exhibition Centre, Dammam, until September 19, Eng Alsubaey asked attendees to ‘use the event to continue the dialogue and business activity that is driving our nation and our industry forward at such an impressive pace”.

 

“This is an opportunity to catalyse growth, stimulate new ideas and continue the sharing of best practice in so many areas. I’m encouraged to see so many key topics under the spotlight over the next two days, in particular, the ever-growing importance of our energy transition to a greener future; and the celebration of our industry’s greatest asset – its people.”

 

Fifth edition

The fifth edition of SMLC is sponsored by the Minister of Transport and Logistic Services, Eng Saleh bin Nasser Al-Jasser and held with Founding Partners, Bahri and Seatrade Maritime; main partners, The Saudi Ports Authority (Mawani) and the Transport General Authority (TGA), as well as strategic partners, Saudi Aramco and IMI.

 

In attendance were Dr Rumaih Al Rumaih, Vice Minister of Transport & Logistic Services (on behalf of Saleh bin Nasser Al-Jasser, Minister of Transport & Logistic Services); Fahad Al Jubeir, Mayor, Eastern Province Municipality and Omar Hariri, President, Saudi Ports Authority (Mawani) who officially opened the show.

 

Highlights from the first day included a special award presented on stage to Gu Jinshan – Chairman of the Board of Shanghai International Ports Group and the President of China’s Association of Ports and Harbours. He was awarded the prestigious Seatrade Maritime Lifetime Achievement Award as part of Seatrade Maritime’s global awards programme.

 

Seatrade awards

Seatrade Maritime Chairman Emeritus, Chris Hayman, said: “With the emergence of Saudi Arabia as a key global industry player, we felt it was timely to bring the Seatrade Awards to this event, with the presentation of two of its most prestigious categories.

 

Citing some examples of Jinshan’s leadership, Hayman said: “Under his leadership, the group has developed green, low carbon initiatives such as the equipping of every one of its container terminals with shore power facilities. It is one of the few ports in the world offering both LNG and green methanol bunkering. Its self-developed command centre enables remote loading and unloading and its use of blockchain technology has reduced the handling time for import documents from 48 hours to just four hours.”

 

The first of many MoUs due to be signed at the event was also witnessed by the packed conference audience: An agreement between Transport General Authority & the Eastern Province Municipality exploring developments in coastal transport for the Eastern Province.

 

Day 2

Looking ahead to Day 2, the conference programme starts with the presentation of the Seatrade Maritime Global Performer Award and moves on to discuss: 'The Digitalisation of Maritime: Adoption of AI and machine learning' a panel which is sure to draw a large audience; whilst the midday session is focused on Offshore Safety; The importance of maintaining world-class safety standards.

 

The afternoon on Day 2 also looks at Energy Transition for a sustainable future, followed by Workforce Development.

 

The showfloor – the largest in the event’s history – boasts around 200 exhibitors with regional and international players including: Damen Shipyards, Integrated Marine Solutions, Hydwin Robotics, Faisal M Higgi & Associates, Port of Salalah, Eastern Experts, Saudi Arabia Railways and Zenitel Norway.--TradeArabia News Service