16 December 2005

WMTC 2006 – THE SCENE IS SET FOR SUCCESS

All the component parts for a highly successful World Maritime Technology Conference in London (6-10 March 2006) are firmly in place – a technical conference with keynote addresses; nearly 240 technical presentations by authors from 33 countries in ten subject-specific streams; poster sessions; a daily ‘innovation hour’; an exhibition with a rapidly growing exhibitor base; a fascinating programme of industrial visits; and a full social and networking calendar of events. Registrations are coming in from all over the world – there is an early booking discount in place up till 6 January 2006.

“Our preparations are going superbly; we have a marvellous event that reflects the truly global nature of the maritime industry – an industry that during the period 2005-2009 is set to average over $1trillion ($1,000 billion) per annum¹,” explains Keith Read CBE, Chief Executive of IMarEST (Institute of Marine Engineering, Science and Technology) which is hosting the second WMTC in the triennial series, the first having been hosted by SNAME and held in San Francisco in 2003.

“It was interesting to hear Admiral Sir Jonathon Band, one of our keynote speakers at WMTC 2006, describe the oceans as ‘the nervous systems of the world’ during a Trafalgar Day broadcast. How right he is, after all, over 90% of the world trade by tonnage moves by sea. Last year that was one ton for every man, woman and child on the earth! WMTC will explore this aspect but also, directly and indirectly, the four key areas services, resources, manufacturing of equipment, and education and research that combine to produce such a truly staggering annual income.

“In the WMTC series of conferences we now have a platform that will enable the sector to give much greater visibility to the unfettered detail of our science, engineering and technology research and development programmes.

“Never before has a maritime conference achieved the breadth and depth of WMTC 2006. It is not surprising therefore that registrations are coming in at a highly encouraging rate – we are looking forward to welcoming up to 1500 delegates in London at the Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre in early March.”

Impressive array of keynote speakers

WMTC 2006 will open on the afternoon of Monday 6 March with an impressive line up of keynote speakers taking part in the opening plenary session:

• Commissioner Joe Borg – Directorate-General for Fisheries and Maritime Affairs, European Commission
• Vice Admiral Conrad C Lautebacher Jr – Undersecretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere and NOAA Administrator
• Admiral Robert E Kramek – President and Chief Operation Officer, American Bureau of Shipping
• Maurice Storey CB, Chairman, Hatsu Marine Limited – and 103 rd President IMarEST

Several of the streams also start their deliberations with a keynote speaker:

• Admiral Sir Jonathon Band KCB, First Sea Lord (designate) will address the naval engineering stream at INEC 2006 – one of several well-established events taking place under the WMTC banner
• Sir David King ScD, FRS Chief Scientific Advisor to HM Government and Head of the Office of Science and Technology will open MAREC 2006 – the marine renewable energy stream
• Paul Erb, BP Deepwater Project will address the offshore oil and gas stream
• John Roberts, Defra – the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs will open the coast and ocean mapping stream with his keynote address: Safeguarding our Seas – Marine Stewardship in the UK
• Dr Clive Wilkinson, Global Coral Reef Monitoring Network, AIMS, Australia will deliver his keynote address at the start of the reefs of the world stream
• Graham Openshaw and Lee Billingham of BP will deliver a joint keynote address on An AUV taxonomy for oil and gas operations at the start of ATUV 2006 – the underwater stream (being held in association with The Society for Underwater Technology)
• The remaining streams – marine engineering systems, in the shape of ICMES 2006; operational oceanography; and EEZ management get straight down to business with technical presentations.

“With its theme ‘Maritime innovation – delivering global solutions’ WMTC gives us all, across the continuum of marine science and engineering a voice and visibility with government and industry,” explains Maurice Storey CB, the President of IMarEST. “We aim to give something of a wake-up call on the maritime challenges facing governments and decision makers across the world. There can be no better place than Westminster, within a few hundred yards of the Houses of Parliament, to deliver this clear message to government.

“It goes without saying that WMTC will help emphasise London’s key global role – and that of the City in particular – plays in the maritime scene, which is why we are delighted that The Right Honourable The Lord Mayor of The City of London, Alderman David Brewer CMG will be the guest speaker at the combined WMTC Conference Dinner and 103 rd Annual Dinner of IMarEST that marks the end of WMTC week.”

Immensely strong technical programme

Professor Chris Hodge FREng, CEng, FIMarEST, Chairman of the WMTC 2006 Technical Committee takes up the story: “We have an incredible variety within our programme. Whether it’s comparing pure science to applied science, engineering design to operations, or satellite technology to seabed samples – we have it, and we have it well covered! It is interesting to note three common themes that cut across the streams – environmental issues, sustainability, and – of course – innovation.

“The streams are not exclusive islands of technology, they are all inter-linked and cross linked. The greatest challenge facing our delegates will be deciding which presentations to go to – they are spoilt for choice!

“Three of our streams are closely concerned with ships – marine engineering systems, commercial shipping and naval engineering:

• Marine Engineering Systems (10 th ICMES) is just what it says on the tin, and covers the system aspects of topics from ballast water treatment to ship emissions and hydrodynamics.

• Commercial Shipping highlights new technologies and describes how they are enabling commercial shipping to become ever more safe and efficient and minimising its environmental impact.
• Naval Engineering covers all the many developments currently underway in naval engineering from electric ship to novel hull forms and innovative maintenance regimes.

Another grouping is offshore energy:

• Offshore Oil and Gas addresses the complex and changing role of offshore engineering and oil production
• Marine Renewable Energy highlights how the marine and offshore industries are adapting in order to rise to the global energy challenge

Then we have:

• Underwater Vehicles looks at technical developments in autonomous and remotely-operated vehicles, and their associated enabling technologies

The next grouping looks at the physical world:

• EEZ (Exclusive Economic Zones) Management highlights the innovative solutions that are being considered to satisfy the challenges of EEZ management
• Coast & Ocean Mapping looks at the development of new and innovative hydrographic and ocean mapping technologies and their applications
• Operational Oceanography focuses on the delivery of effective oceanographic observing, monitoring and forecasting systems

Then we move to pure science with:

• Reefs of the World focuses on coral, temperature, deepwater and artificial reefs and their common traits

“Then too we have the very stimulating Innovation Hour. This is aimed at providing a series of lunchtime fifteen-minute presentations and is particularly suited to universities, research agencies and those exhibiting a particular concept. The chairman of the committee is Dr John Chudley, of the University of Plymouth. The innovation hour presenters will be announced in the New Year, just before the conference, to keep their concepts as fresh as possible.”

The entire conference re-convenes for a final plenary session in the late afternoon of Thursday 9 March, when retiring President, Maurice Storey CB will deliver his closing summary and when the ‘WMTC baton’ is passed to the Institute of Marine Engineers (India) who will stage WMTC 2009 in Mumbai. This will be followed by a closing reception for all delegates and exhibitors.

The WMTC exhibition, industrial visits and social events

The WMTC 2006 exhibition is rapidly filling with a wide range of organisations from home and overseas reflecting composition of the WMTC conference – in all there will be up to a hundred organisations represented in the exhibition in March. Admission to the exhibition will be free to all with a professional interest in maritime affairs.

Industrial visits to the Port of London Authority, QinetiQ, the National Centre for Ocean Forecasting, a Royal Navy ship (subject to operational commitments), and to the Kentish Flats offshore windfarm have been arranged for delegates, who are urged to book their free place as early as possible as places on all of the visits are limited. All visits will take place on Friday 10 March, and there is an additional visit to the Port of London Authority scheduled for 9 March. Full information on all destinations is in the WMTC 2006 programme and registration document.

WMTC 2006 incorporates social and networking events in plenty – a ‘welcome’ reception at the Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre on Monday 6 March; a Conference Reception on 7 March; the WMTC 2006 closing reception on 9 March; and the WMTC Conference Dinner and IMarEST 103 rd Annual Dinner on 10 March. There is a full and fascinating accompanying guests’ programme in place as well.

WMTC 2006 is sponsored by ALSTOM, Inmarsat, Lloyd’s Register, P&O Princess Cruises International Limited, Rolls-Royce, ABS and UK Hydrographic Office. There are 25 institutes and organisations from all over the world behind WMTC, together they form the overall WMTC Steering Group, and it was to them that IMarEST had to bid to hold the event in London. “We look forward to welcoming representatives of all these global partners to WMTC 2006; and to handing on the baton to our colleagues in India who will host the event in 2009,” says Keith Read.

“WMTC 2006 is about more than papers and conference sessions – or indeed the exhibition, or the technical visits taking place during WMTC week, or even the networking events. It is about people and the opportunity to learn what is going on in other areas of the marine science and engineering agenda, what innovative ideas are bearing fruit, and what marine professionals across the world are making of the growing importance of maritime affairs below, on and above the seas. We are looking forward to meeting a truly stimulating body of men and women from around the globe and to a highly memorable week!”

Further information

The full conference programme and a wealth of information on all aspects of WMTC 2006 is available at www.wmtc2006.com and in printed form from WMTC 2006, Events Department, IMarEST, 80 Coleman Street, London EC2R 5BJ. Tel: +44 (0)20 7382 2655; Fax: +44 (0)20 7382 2667; Email: events@wmtc2006.com

¹ Figure supplied by Douglas-Westwood and quoted by John Westwood at the press launch of the WMTC Conference Programme

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