Oceanology International 2016 – looking back

Oceanology International 2016 (OI2016) held 15-17 March at London’s ExCeL attracted 7836 unique attendees from 79 countries, with many revisiting on consecutive days. The show’s overall attendance was 14 161 people.

“We are absolutely thrilled with how OI2016 has gone,” said Event Director Jonathan Heastie of Reed Exhibitions. “With many of our participants active in the oil and gas industry, it’s fair to say that their expectations were lowered pre-show in light of the market challenges faced… but the feedback we received from our exhibitors all week was tremendous. They told us consistently that the quality of the visitors they met has risen sharply, with key decision-makers and senior technologists on-site from a multitude of industries, not just oil and gas and, most importantly, that these important attendees are looking to buy both now and into the future with numerous orders taken during the show.”

“We are thrilled for our customers and delighted that the active core of the ocean technology community has continued to support and attend OI, keeping it as the focal point of the industry’s calendar globally. We now turn our focus towards replicating its success in both China in November (9-11 November, Shanghai) and at our new North American event in San Diego in February (14-16 February), before returning to ExCeL in March 2018 (13-15 March), when Interspill 2018 will be co-located alongside OI2018,” continued Heastie.

The OI2016 exhibition was the largest ever in the show’s 47 year history.

The vessels moored immediately outside the OI2016 exhibition halls in the Royal Victoria dock. The 11 vessels, varying in length from 12.5 m to 53 m, that came to OI2016 had a busy time with 1107 people going aboard for one of the 93 trips in the five giving demonstrations.

Conference streams covered Aquaculture; Green shipping; Handling big data; Hydrography, Geophysics and Geotechnics; Marine renewables; Marine technology and services sector role in the Blue Economy; Monitoring structural integrity understanding risk and reliability; Oil & Gas: What’s next for ageing offshore assets?; Positioning & metrology; and the Unmanned vehicles and vessels showcase. Additionally the Trade & Innovation Theatre on the exhibition floor was home to Clusters, Collaboration and a common blue voice; the Oiltech: ‘Meet the Investor’ seminar; Open Ocean & Coastal Observation Workshop; Near and Far Market Trading: UK, France, Scotland, USA, Ireland, Canada, Australia; and the New Products Showcase.

Edited from press release by Angharad Lock

Read the article online at: https://www.worldpipelines.com/business-news/01042016/oceanology-international-2016-looking-back-2921/