Seatrade Maritime Middle east 2018 (SMME), the region’s world-class maritime convention, last month drew over 7,500 attendees from more than 86 countries – including the industry’s elite and most prominent personalities, to showcase their businesses besides networking and building relationships over the three-day event.

The event saw 230 regional and international shipping and maritime industry decision makers and stakeholders come together to discuss the key industry issues. For the industry bigwigs, it was a great platform to examine some of the recent challenges faced by the industry, through a lineup of seminars, panel discussions, and roundtables.

SMME saw the Who’s Who of the regional shipping industry rubbing shoulders with the global industry captains while thrashing out the sector’s future course of action.

In a spectacular start to the expo, Seatrade Maritime Awards, the largest and longest awards body for the maritime sector in the Middle East, Indian subcontinent, and African regions, was held the night before to recognise the achievements of the maritime industry across various segments.

And this year it was special, being the 15th anniversary, the organisers, UBM, introducing several new award categories – Shipyard of the Year and Maritime Services Award and Integration of Women in the Maritime Sector Award – to showcase the outstanding achievements within the maritime and shipping industries and across regions.

A new category, ‘Regional Focus’, was introduced to honour the best regional performers from the Africa and the Indian subcontinent.

“The SMME serves as a strategic platform to highlight Dubai’s pioneering experience and the UAE’s leading position in the global maritime sector,” remarked Ahmed Bin Sulayem, chairman of Dubai Maritime City Authority (DMCA), at the opening ceremony.