The Leisure marine sector has gathered in Amsterdam, with thousands of leading marine professionals gathering at METSTRADE which runs from Wednesday 15 to Friday 17 November 2023. “It’s a special edition for us,” says METSTRADE director Niels Klarenbeek. we are celebrating our 35th Anniversary and launching two new pavilions to stimulate interest in foiling and start-up businesses.
“We’re stimulating accessibility and inclusion by placing a new Career Zone right in the heart of our Young Professionals Club and holding our second Women in the Marine Industry International Event. Plus, as you have come to expect of METSTRADE, we have an array of features and events to share best practices and stimulate debate on the passion we share to create a sustainable marine sector. This includes a Next Generation Propulsion Zone for the first time.
“More than 1,500 exhibitors from 53 countries are present in 11 halls, 240 of them new to METSTRADE this year. Visitors are able to explore the collective endeavours of 29 national pavilions representing 19 countries including newcomer Croatia, and engage with marine industry associations to be signposted to local expertise.
METSTRADE was prefaced with its traditional Breakfast Briefing on Wednesday 15 November. Headlining the event, was Chairman and CEO of Italian shipyard Sanlorenzo and committed sustainability advocate, Massimo Perotti, who has 40 years’ experience pf working at the leading edge of motoryacht and superyacht construction. His keynote outlined how the leisure marine sector can transition to carbon neutrality.
Perotti’s presentation was followed by the unveiling of the winners of the coveted DAME Design 2023 Awards. This year saw a very high ratio of entries nominated across eight new categories – winning products representomh the pinnacle of holistic design efforts and visitors can browse them all on the expansive DAME Design Awards showcase in hall 13, right in the heart of METSTRADE.
Alongside this display, the METSTRADE Theatre hosts interviews with the DAME winners, as part of an extensive series of discussion panels and presentations covering key technology, innovation, diversity and sustainability topics and the eagerly awaited launch of ICOMIA’s independently researched Ricardo study into decarbonising marine leisure propulsion.
METSTRADE is introducing two brand new pavilions for this year, in hall 7. The Foiling Technology Pavilion, developed in partnership with the Foiling Organization, brings many key players involved in this technology to the show as exhibitors for the first time. Visitors will learn how to implement foils into mainstream yacht design and construction from leading experts and try their hand at the same AC40 simulator as used by the race series’ crews.
The Start-Up Pavilion, launched in collaboration with global marine start-up hub Yachting Ventures, will feature 15 carefully curated new businesses and their market disruptive products. The exhibitors in this area are focused on two key areas – digitisation and sustainability. Within those categories there is a wide range of activity, from underwater robotics, 3D printed inflatable complex structures and electrification enablers, to management systems and battery health prediction software.