After the successful editions of Maracad in the past three years, the preparations of the fourth edition of the Maritime Conference and Expo, which will be held at the Dubai World Trade Center (DWTC) between October 2 and 3, are underway by the Dubai based organiser Cham Events.

The event is held under the patronage of Dr Abdullah bin Mohammed Belhaif Al Nuaimi, the Cabinet Member Minister of Infrastructure Development and chairman of the Federal Transport Authority – Land and Maritime.

Maracad 2018 follows the UAE strides towards global leadership, especially after the historical Category B membership winning in the International Maritime Organization (IMO) Council, thus paving the way for the UAE to play an active role in developing international rules and regulations that will further enhance the international trade and shipping level.

The conference aims to explore new horizons and trends in the industry, supporting the human element and discuss the future of Innovative Maritime Education.

Maracad’s theme for this 2018 is autonomy, where the conference will shed the light on Technology and Innovation involvement in maritime education and training, through facilitating effective partnering opportunities, which will open opportunities to better and smarter outlook for the maritime industry.

The UAE award for maritime creativity and innovation ceremony will be held also during Maracad 2018, as an inspiration and motivation to UAE maritime sector stakeholders to launch and adopt innovative and creative based projects. The conference will comprise five panel discussions covering the following topics: innovation in shipping, the future of smart ships, innovation of future ports, the future of maritime education and its challenges, and cybersecurity training programmes.

Dr Alia Al Hussein, general manager of Cham Events, the official organiser of Maracad 2018, said: “We look forward to continue being the most important regional event that discusses the progress of maritime industry and its rather imperative aspect of human development, in line with highlighting new technologies, while moving towards our moral responsibility for the next shipping generation”.

Captain Hussam Suyyagh, the conference director, said: “The world is witnessing a major correlational shift between digital, physical and biological technologies. Thus, the promotion of technological innovations in port infrastructure, logistics and physical connectivity in the shipping sector, among others, is especially important to find new engines of growth.”