Build World Leading Professional Maritime Expo
——An Interview with Xing Wenhua, Chairman of the Chinese Organizing Committee of Marintec China 2019 and Chairman of the Shanghai Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers (SSNAME)

Liu Zhiliang

Marintec China 2019 was held in Shanghai on December 3-6 and this year is an important milestone for Marintec China. On the eve of the opening of the exhibition, Xing Wenhua, chairman of the Chinese Organizing Committee of Marintec China and chairman of the Shanghai Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers (SSNAME), said in an interview with the reporter that after 40 years of experience accumulation,the 20-session historical deposit,Marintec China has now become one of the world's largest and most influential two maritime events. On the new starting point, Marintec China will stay true to the mission, continue to target building the "wind vane" of the technology development trend of the international maritime undertaking, continuously improve the professional showcase,make the new height of Marintec China and truly become the world's leading professional maritime exhibition.

Although the global market for shipbuilding, marine engineering equipment and shipping is still depressed due to global trade and political tensions,Marintec China 2019 is expected to attract more than 2200 exhibitors, more than 65000 professional audiences in more than 100 countries and regions,with an exhibition area of more than 90000 square meters, and the three data will hit a new high. Xing Wenhua believes that the reason why Marintec China 2019 can achieve the growth against trend is first of all attributed to the development of China's shipbuilding industry. In the past 40 years, Marintec China has witnessed and participated in the development history of China's shipbuilding industry from lagging behind to catching up, pushing China elbowing into the world's big countries of shipbuilding and building a shipbuilding power, and the development of China's shipbuilding industry has also provided sufficient "nutrient" for the strong growth of Marintec China. At the same time,Shanghai as an international highlevel city, with the development of the international shipping center and the development of the local shipbuilding industry, more and more maritime factors are gathered in the city, providing good soil for the rapid development of Marintec China.

Xing Wenhua revealed that, in fact,for the Organizing Committee, Marintec China 2019 is facing a great challenge,which is the first exhibition with complete private operation after the government departments quit the organizers.Fortunately, with the strong support of the government departments, Marintec China 2019 and the professional convention and exhibition companies like Informa Markets carry out in-depth cooperation,take the form of complete commercial operation, continuously improve the level of exhibition, actively plan the exhibition activities and project highlights according to the development trend of the industry,and strengthen the informatization construction measures, and continuously provide exhibitors with more professional services to attract the attention of exhibitors. At the same time, SSNAME,the organizer of Marintec China 2019,also exerts its own characteristics and advantages, actively provides services to its member units, and has established a good cooperative relationship with relevant international and domestic industry organizations, laying a good foundation for exhibitor solicitation.

From the present scale of exhibition, Marintec China 2019 has exceeded the Hamburg maritime exhibition. However, Xing Wenhua said what Marintec China pursues is not only quantitative transcendence like the number of exhibitors, exhibition area and so on, but also the promotion of the exhibition quality, especially the improvement of the quality of the professional forum. As a professional international maritime exhibition,the professional forum represents the"wind vane" of the development of the maritime industry, and determines the level of the exhibition to a certain extent.At the same time, the "international maritime forum" characteristics of Marintec China 2019 is summarized by the three points -- "The degree of internationalization is further improved,the level of specialization continues to be improved, and the organizational form is appropriate and innovative." As a reserved project for Marintec China, he said the "high-level maritime forum", as a reserve project for Marintec China, the"international maritime forum" has set up topics centering on the latest topics of international maritime boundary, the latest development trend, the technological progress and the hot spot of the market,and has invited foreign governments,international organizations and industry giants, high-level, heavyweight guests of the academic authority and the wellknown research institution to deliver speeches, and strive to improve the quality and level of China's international maritime exhibition.

“In fact, Marintec China is not only a new product, a new technology exhibition and an academic conference,but more like a large party and a living room of the international maritime industry. It is not only a display platform that can attract customers, but also an exchange platform showcasing the latest development trends and dynamics of the maritime industry.” Xing Wenhua said the large party can play an aggregation effect, and the participants can see all the maritime factors and elements, expand the international perspective, and carry out multi-party interaction. The living room can attract the eyes of the domestic and international mainstream enterprises,facilitate more in-depth exchange and cooperation for the participants, expand international trade cooperation channel,explore good policies for development and achieve all-win.

To create a community of marine destiny. With China's continuous strengthening of marine economic construction, China's maritime industry will usher in greater development opportunities. Xing Wenhua said that, on the basis of the development experience, the Organizing Committee of Marintec China will stay true to the preliminary intention, improve Marintec China, further consolidate and improve its influence and brand strength as an international maritime event, continue to do a good job as the bridge and links seeking all-round and multi-level cooperation between China's shipbuilding industry and the international maritime industry, open wider to the outside world,deepen international cooperation, and build Marintec China into a landmark event for China's shipbuilding industry fulfilling the high quality development concept and promoting a new round of high-level opening to the outside world.