London International Shipping Week welcomes the Netherlands as its first ever national pavilion partner
LONDON: 7th June, 2023: The organisers of London International Shipping Week 2023 (LISW23) are delighted to welcome the Netherlands as the first ever National Pavilion Partner, highlighting the strong and close relationship between the two maritime nations.
The Netherlands boasts a thriving maritime hub and the government-backed partnership will enable the cluster to showcase all it has to offer with several Dutch maritime companies already signed up as part of the Pavilion approach.
The maritime sector in the Netherlands includes world class knowledge institutes, an interconnected shipbuilding industry and vibrant smart ports with excellent maritime services, as well as a highly skilled workforce.
On either side of the North Sea, the Netherlands and the UK are among each other’s main trade and investment partners with both sharing the drive to shape a sustainable and smart maritime sector. The Dutch maritime sector wants to collaborate with the UK to develop zero-emission and smart shipping, create green, vibrant and connected port cities, provide legal and regulatory services as a first alternative in Europe, advance the sustainable blue economy with clean and productive oceans.
During LISW23, a Netherlands Day will take place on 14th September in which a delegation of Dutch government, stakeholders and companies will visit London to share knowledge, best practices and create new collaboration opportunities with UK partners. The day will offer a varied programme around three main themes: Business & Technology Innovation, Compliance and Decarbonisation, in partnership with the Rotterdam Maritime Services Community and Rotterdam Maritime Capital of Europe.
As part of the Business & Technology theme, the day will include a Technology & Innovation Exchange where pioneering companies will showcase their latest innovations for use in ports and shipping that will help the broader maritime sector achieve sustainability and connectivity goals.
The Compliance sessions will see Maritime Services professional present on the legal aspects of pressing themes such as autonomous shipping and making the sector more sustainable, while panel discussions on the topic of Decarbonisation will also take place with key stakeholders, to further the UK and Netherlands’ understanding of how the sharing of research, funding and infrastructure and will benefit global net-zero goals.
“By joining London International Shipping Week, we are affirming our ambitions to work with the UK to address global challenges together,” says Els Steiger, Chief Representative for NBSO Manchester, one of the main organisers of the Netherlands Day, together with the Netherlands Enterprise Agency.
“The United Kingdom and the Netherlands can pave the way and form international partnerships in order to realise smart and zero-emission shipping and develop green and connected port cities. I believe both counties present unique and complementary offers that ,when combined, can deliver real progress. Together we can change course towards a sustainable blue economy.”
Llewellyn Bankes-Hughes, Director of Shipping Innovation and co-founder of LISW, welcomed the Netherlands as National Pavilion Partner stating: “LISW is all about collaboration, between every sector of the maritime industry and government, and therefore provides the perfect environment to enable international clusters to come together to share information, build new business relationships and grow stronger. We are delighted that the Netherlands has become the first maritime hub to become a National Pavilion Partner at LISW23 and would welcome any other maritime hubs to follow suit and take advantage of the great opportunity that London will offer in September.”
More details on the exact programme for the Netherlands Day will be announced shortly.
LISW23 will be held in the week of September 11-15, 2023 and will play host to the maritime world with hundreds of events attracting thousands of international industry decision makers into London during the week. The headline LISW23 Conference will be held on Wednesday September 13th while the LISW23 Gala Dinner will be held on Thursday September 14th.