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Asia Pacific Maritime 2016 kicks off in Singapore

Xinhua, March 16, 2016 Adjust font size:

Asia Pacific Maritime (APM) 2016 kicked off on Wednesday in Singapore.

With over 1,500 international exhibiting companies and 50 leading experts from the industry gathering at the Marina Bay Sands Expo and Convention Center, the three-day exhibition and conference functions as a platform for exhibitors and experts to network and exchange views.

Official pavilions of 17 countries and regions were set up at the exhibition, with Austria, Indonesia and Spain joining in for the first time, according to the organizer.

In his speech at the opening ceremony, Lucien Wong, chairman of the Maritime Port Authority Singapore, said despite the strong headwinds faced by the maritime and offshore industry, the long-term growth prospect for Asia is good as it remains one of the fastest growing regions in the world.

Nine of the world's 10 busiest container ports are in Asia, he said, adding new multilateral initiatives such as the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) and the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) will further spur intra-regional and international trade.

Nazery Khalid, honorary secretary of the Association of Marine Industries of Malaysia, said, "those who can match the call by oil majors to reduce cost and enhance efficiency through improving their technical capabilities and discover more innovative and cost effective ways to do business will survive the challenging times and stand to prosper as the oil markets rebound."

Zhang Gengsheng, assistant general manager of Weichai Power Co., Ltd, told Xinhua that "weiji" in Chinese means opportunities coexist with crisis. When the industry meets strong headwinds, it may also means business opportunities.

As customers may prefer relatively cheaper products which share almost the same quality with more expensive ones under tough economic conditions, China's enterprises may seize the opportunity to develop, he said.

APM 2016 is also collocated with InterMET Asia 2016, an exhibition bringing together global weather and climate services industries. During the exhibition, the inaugural Asia Pacific Maritime Insurance Conference, Digital Ship Industry Briefing and PetroEdge Skills Development Trainings will also be held. Endit