HANSA 12-2017

Schiffstechnik | Ship Technology
Photos: Europort, Thomas Wägener
Europort in the light of a changing market
This year’s fair focused on the human factor in the maritime business, the importance of
big data and how to deal with environmental issues. For the first time, start-up companies
got a special area to present themselves. By Thomas Wägener
According to the organizers this year’s
Europort from 7-10 November saw
26,733 visitors from 93 countries. About
1,100 exhibitors including 14 country
pavilions welcomed guests in the exhibition
area of Ahoy Rotterdam. Many of the
40 side events had a focus on this year’s
three core topics: »Big Data«, the »Human
Factor«, and the »Environmental Age«.
At the opening ceremony, Pieter
Blangé, a former Netherlands volleyball
player and coach, and now innovation
manager at the Royal Dutch Football
Association, explained the growing
importance of Big Data in the daily life.
»Big Data will be part of our lives as we’ve
never seen before«, he said. The goal is to
be perfectly prepared either in sports or
in the maritime business. In sports it’s the
health of the players, while in the shipping
industry maintenance is a key factor
for a successful operation. »If only one
part of the system fails you will get into
problems,« he continued.
Albrecht Grell, Executive Vice President,
Digital Solutions and Innovation
at DNV GL, said that the right trim of a
vessel formerly was known by the captain
because of his experience. These
days, sensors measure the relevant data
to identify the most reliable trim behavior.
Futhermore, Grell and Karin Orsel,
Co-Chair Royal Dutch Shipowners Association
(KVNR), Vice Chair International
Chamber of Shipping (ICS), President
Women’s International Shipping &
Trading Association (WISTA), and CEO
MF Shipping Group, expected a trend to
more automation in the shipping sector in
the near future. »We already see welding
robots in shipyards«, agreed Astrid Kee,
Chair woman of the NML Human Capital
Council, Member Board of Directors
STC Group. That would lead to a different
kind of engineer. This could be also
an example for the changing role of the
human factor, another main topic of this
year’s fair. Orsel expects more shore base
support in the future what would create
new jobs. Kees Jan Mes, Vice Chairman
SEA Europe and Managing Director Pon
Power NL, agreed. He saw an increasing
importance of tools with Virtual Reality
aspects. That would make the design processes
more effcient because one could
check in advance if the planned objects
could be put into reality. »If that is not the
case it’s possible to make changes before
the construction phase starts.«
The Europort 2017 agenda was enhanced
by four so-called Masterclasses.
A human resources Masterclass,
for example, underpinned the broad-
More than 26,000 visitors attended this years Europort
Melcal showed a knuckle boom crane
86 HANSA International Maritime Journal – 154. Jahrgang – 2017 – Nr. 12