Promoting the UK's maritime offer with DIT

John Strang, the Department for International Trade's Maritime Sector Manager reports on recent industry-government work to promote the UK's maritime sector. 

MARINTEC BRAZIL

DIT Rio again delivered a highly successful programme of activity at Marintec South America in Rio in August. Marintec is the premier trade event for maritime transportation and technical cooperation in the region and during the annual UK Innovation Seminar, UK companies, universities, and R&D institutions including the Universities of Southampton and Plymouth addressed the issue of innovative low carbon solutions for maritime transportation and engaged with the 112 invited technical managers and decision-makers including key Brazilian stakeholders such as Petrobras and Transpetro. The event enjoyed significant coverage from specialised media outlets and institutional support from a range of key players in the regional maritime field such as ABEAM, SYNDARMA, SINAVAL, ABENAV and SOBENA.

5th annual UK / South Korea Marine Engineering Partnering event

DIT Seoul and BEIS, in partnership with KOSHIPA (Korea Offshore and Shipbuilding Association), facilitated a visit of senior engineers and purchasing managers from all the key Korean shipyards - Hyundai Heavy Industries, Samsung Heavy Industries, Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering – to participate in the 5th annual UK / South Korea Marine Engineering Partnering event in London in Sept. This well-attended and well-established annual event offers the UK supply chain a regular update on the project status of the key offshore energy platform build programmes and promotes areas for future commercial cooperation between the UK and South Korea. 

UK China Cruise Consortium Outward Mission

DIT Maritime team organised the latest outward mission by the UK China Cruise Consortium in September. The group - which consists of leading complimentary UK companies in areas such as navel architecture, interior design, interior fit-out and safety systems? - visited 7 cities in the 5-day trip, from Guangzhou – Shenzhen – Chongqing- Wuhan-Qingdao-Yantai-Shanghai to meet with ship owners, shipyards and tourism companies. China wants to grow its domestic cruise ship market from 2.5 million passengers per year to 30 million over the next 10-years. To achieve this, it intends to build 40 cruise ships over this time. At roughly US$1 billion a ship, and with potential UK content of a typical cruise ship being as much as 40%, this market alone has a potential of US$ 16 billion.

DSK

The first DIT Maritime DSK was successfully delivered during Maritime UK Week (10-14 Sept.) by DIT’s Maritime team in cooperation with key industry stakeholders; Maritime UK, Maritime London, the British Chamber, the National Oceanographic Centre, The Society of Maritime Industries, British Marine and the British Marine Equipment Assoc. - and with input from UKEF, BEIS and DIT Regional groups in the SW, SE, East Mids and the Black Country. The week-long programme covered the full breadth of the UK maritime offer including marine engineering, leisure and super yachts, maritime business services, marine science, education, training and skills and ports infrastructure. The group, which included staff from China, Brazil, Vietnam, Singapore, Indonesia, South Korea, Greece, Qatar and the Ukraine engaged with over 30 companies and organisations in Rugby, Southampton and London as well as supporting networking events focussed on London International Shipping Week and Woman in Maritime. Highlights of the week included a marine science and aquaculture session on board the Royal Research Ship (RRS) James Cook, a maritime business services day hosted by former Lord Mayor of London Lord Mountevans with leading organisations such as Lloyd’s Register and Clarkson’s. The week concluded with a visit to the annual Southampton Boat Show to meet with top UK based yachting brands including Princess, Sunseeker and Fairline. 

China Cruise &Yacht Industry Association (CCYIA) inward mission

DIT Maritime team organised the China Cruise &Yacht Industry Association (CCYIA) inward mission in September. The CCYIA delegation – which included 10 senior leaders from the marine industry in China - visited Exova Warringtonfire, Southampton University, Trimline and Carnival UK. During the trip, CCYIA signed a Strategic Cooperation agreement with Exova Warringtonfire; this world-class global testing partner will be the preferred supplier for fire test procedure (FTP) testing services and marine equipment directive (MED) certification for Chinese material and product suppliers to the passenger ships.

Here is the news from Element(Exova’s parent company) about the CCYIA visit.

https://www.element.com/about-element/news/2018/09/10/ccyia-delegation-visit

CHINESE SHIPYARD INWARD MISSION

DIT Maritime team and DIT China supported visit to the UK from all China’s leading shipbuilders. The high-level technical delegation from Shanghai, Guangzhou, Zhenjiang, and Jingdezhen was headed by the Vice President of Shanghai Waigaoqiao Shipyard Mr Yuan Feipeng and visited London and Southampton during their two-week stay in the UK. The programme covered a wide range of UK capability including cruise ship, marine power, marine infrastructure planning, ship design and research, ship building project management and operation, navigation, ship electrical engineering and ship safety management. The delegation met with, among others, Babcock, Lloyd’s Register, Inmarsat and ECDIS, established a comprehensive understanding of UK marine expertise and identified key areas for future collaboration.