Sea Asia Takes Top Spot as South East Asia's Largest Maritime Conference with Attendance Up 23 Per Cent in 2015

SINGAPORE, April 28, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Singapore's role as a leading international maritime centre was demonstrated at last week's Sea Asia 2015 with 16,185 participants from 85 countries taking part in the three-day event.

Minister for Transport and Second Minister for Defence Mr Lui Tuck Yew speaking at the Sea Asia 2015 opening ceremony.

This is a 23 per cent increase in attendance from the previous event and Seatrade Chairman Chris Hayman said this is a reflection of Sea Asia's growing importance in the maritime calendar.

"This year's Sea Asia was our biggest and best event yet. The exhibition was 30 per cent bigger than last year's event and spread across two floors for the first time due to unprecedented demand from exhibitors.

"This growth is a real reflection of the important role Sea Asia plays in helping bring leading players from across the industry together to discuss, debate and analyse key issues and trends," he said.

UBM Asia Ltd Executive Vice President and Director of Sea Asia 2015 Michael Duck states: "No doubt Singapore plays a focal point in bringing together the best, the biggest and the brightest in the Global Maritime sphere.

"The importance of Sea Asia is well illustrated by the number of industry leaders who were in town for this 'don't miss' event."

He added that many of the critical discussions over the three days took place in the conference sessions.

"These sessions are a key highlight of Sea Asia and it was great to see participation increase from 700 delegates in 2013 to over 900 delegates this year, a massive 29 per cent growth," he said.

Singapore Maritime Foundation Chairman Michael Chia said that the success of Sea Asia 2015 also highlights the increasingly dominant role Singapore, and the Asia region, plays in the global maritime and offshore industries.

"Asia is the driving force behind the global maritime and offshore industries. In 2014, Asia accounted for almost 80 per cent of global container throughput and five of the top ten shipping centres are based in this region."

Mr Chia added that to continue driving this growth, Asian maritime will need to focus on developing the industry's future leaders.

"This is another key focus of Sea Asia and it was great to see close to 200 students join us at the event as part of the Sea Asia Youth Tour."

Mr Duck concluded that following such a successful event in 2015, the team is gearing up for an even bigger conference and exhibition in 2017.

"Sea Asia is firmly established as the leading forum for discussion and debate in the global maritime industry. This year's event was a real success and we're looking forward to building on this in the next edition," he said.

For more information, please contact:

Sharon Chan
Email: sharon.chan@bbspr.com.sg
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About Sea Asia

Sea Asia, an international conference and exhibition for the maritime and offshore industries, is returning for the 5^th edition from 21 to 23 April 2015 at the Marina Bay Sands^®, Singapore. Sea Asia serves as a focal point for both the global and local maritime communities to network, explore new businesses, and showcase the latest maritime innovations, equipment and services. Co-organised by Seatrade and the Singapore Maritime Foundation, Sea Asia is an anchor event held in conjunction with the Singapore Maritime Week and is well-attended by the most influential and respected leaders in the industry. The 3-day Sea Asia conference will bring forth the latest discussion and debates on key trends, opportunities and challenges facing the maritime industry.

Sea Asia is supported by principal sponsors Anglo-Eastern Ship Management Ltd, DP World UAE Region, Executive Ship Management, Lloyd's Register, Neptune Orient Lines (NOL), Sohar Port & Freezone, as well as sponsors ABS, Admiralty, AXSMARINE, ClassNK, DNVGL, G Travel, Hempel, JTJB LLP, Keppel Offshore & Marine, LUKOIL Marine Lubricants, M3 Marine Group Pte Ltd, Mobil Industrial Lubricants, Pacific International Lines (Pte) Ltd, PANAMA MARITIME AUTHORITY, WORLDWIDE LEADER FLAG STATE, PSA Corporation Limited, QBE INSURANCE (INTERNATIONAL) LIMITED, Singtel, The Standard Club Asia Ltd, Veritas Petroleum Services, and Zamil Offshore.

For more information, please visit www.sea-asia.com.

About Seatrade

Seatrade provides a range of global events, websites and publications that covers every aspect of the cruise and maritime industries, bringing together key people to encourage innovation and to produce powerful learning, networking and promotional platforms. Founded in 1970, Seatrade was acquired recently in 2014 by UBM, the world's second largest media and event organiser. Seatrade sits with the UBM EMEA, which connects people and creates opportunities for companies to develop new business, meet customers, launch new products, promote brands and expand markets. Operating in over 23 countries, UBM EMEA organizes many of the world's largest, most important exhibitions, conferences, awards, directories, websites and publications in a wide variety of industries.

For full details about this event, visit www.sea-asia.com. Find out more about Seatrade and UBM, visit http://www.seatrade-global.com/seatrade-global-information/about-seatrade.html and http://ubmemea.com/.

About the Singapore Maritime Foundation

Established in 2004, the Singapore Maritime Foundation (SMF) is a private sector-led organisation that seeks to develop and promote Singapore as an International Maritime Centre (IMC). As the representative voice for the commercial players of the maritime industry, SMF seeks to forge strong partnerships with the public and private sectors of the maritime industry. SMF spearheads initiatives to promote the diverse clusters of the maritime industry in Singapore and at international frontiers, and to attract young talents to join the sector. SMF is directed by its Board of Directors which comprises prominent leaders in the Singapore maritime community. For details, visit www.smf.com.sg.

The panel of speakers at the Navigating Challenges session on the final day of Sea Asia 2015.

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