Positive tone at SMM 2016 Maritime Trade Fair

We participated in the SMM 2016 international maritime trade fair in Hamburg between 6-9.9.2016. The atmosphere at the fair was generally encouraging and positive, considering the difficult times that the maritime industry has recently been experiencing. The huge number of visitors, 50 000 in total, is a good indicator of this.

Although shipbuilding is globally in a time of recession, the market for cruise ships is warming up. During the fair orders for a number of new cruise ships were unveiled – three ships have been ordered from Meyer, two from Turku and one from Papenburg. The markets for passenger ferries and arctic cruise ships are also experiencing growth. So the European market outlook is good for passenger ships.

From Comatec Group’s perspective the fair was very busy and yielded more than expected. Comatec’s service offering attracted considerable attention, and we had many interesting conversations. We met many potential clients and partners, from Finland and many other countries; in that respect we achieved our goals for attendance at the fair. We believe that the fair will have a positive impact on the development of our maritime engineering design business.