METS: set for success

Even though there are lingering doubts after none of the boatbuilders would confirm sales (or otherwise) at the PSP Southampton Boat Show, hopefully all the nasty stuff has now happened and we're on the way up. 

But I wonder what the rumour mill has in prospect for us this time? More redundancies, perhaps?

When you arrive at the Amsterdam RAI for this year’s METS, you’ll remember the building works that were going on last year in the square in front of the RAI. That square is now full of the Elicium. It’s an imposing looking building that the RAI says is ‘at the heart of the Amsterdam RAI Convention Centre’. It boasts the biggest ballroom in the country, four congress halls and 20 dedicated meeting rooms and is the largest exhibition complex in the Netherlands.

The Elicium is connected to the main buildings by flyovers and will be the home of the media exhibitors and the DAME exhibition. Looking at the floor plan, it seems the Elicium is set apart from the main exhibition and will need a special diversion to get to see all of us media types. But this, I am assured, is not the case and the Elicium is on the route between the Europa and Holland halls.

The Elicium also houses a ballroom that can take 2,000, or seat 1,200 for a dinner. It has sliding walls so it can be tailored to the function size, and has super efficient LED lighting.

The whole development has ‘hyper modern energy systems’ that store heat and cold in the ground, which saves a lot of energy, they say.

Also in the new complex are meeting rooms and lounges and, right where the media stands are, you’ll find the space where we’ll have the Happy Hour. And, at the end of the room, there are loos and catering establishments.

Long name
As for the show itself, the name is a bit longer and we’ll all be at METS incorporating the SuperYacht Pavilion.

Last year the show saw 1,210 exhibitors for METS and the SuperYacht Pavilion combined. Sarah Westdijk, product manager METS/SYP, told me she was expecting to see more than that this year. ‘We have more space this year and we can accommodate more exhibitors,’ she told me. ‘The latest figure is 1,233, and I think we’ll end up close to 1,250.’

With some pretty variable show attendances reported around Europe over the past few months, METS has done extremely well, although with 190+ new exhibitors, there are a lot from last year who chose not to come again for some reason.

The show, which is run in association with the International Council of Marine Industry Associations (ICOMIA), kicks off at 08.00 on the Tuesday morning, November 17, when the Breakfast Briefing runs in the Forum.

Keynote
The keynote speaker is Michael Schmidt, who has the longest title I’ve ever seen. So I’ll call him the Top Man at HanseYachts.

Mr Schmidt founded HanseYachts in 1990 and has managed the company's affairs since. In 1968, he finished his apprenticeship as shipping merchant. From 1968 to 1975, he worked for companies in England, Sweden and Canada. From 1975 until 1979, he worked for C&C Yachts Europe, where he was responsible for establishing a European dealer network and a manufacturing facility for production boats in Kiel.

In 1979, he founded the brokerage firm of Michael Schmidt & Partner GmbH and the shipyard Yachtwerft Wedel GmbH. He no longer holds any interest in these companies, but he’ll remain Top Man at HanseYachts until July 14, 2011.

As we went to press on this issue, nothing was known about the subject of Mr Schmidt’s talk.

The Breakfast Briefing is also where the DAME Awards are presented. Last year saw a welcome change in the presentation ceremony and it was jazzed up a bit – a little razzmatazz is always welcome at awards ceremonies, I feel. After all, they’re all winners and deserve to be applauded. Hopefully this year will follow on the same lines.

Global
The DAME Awards are decided by a global panel of judges who congregate in Amsterdam for a day of judging where all the bits of kit are presented for inspection. The electrical products are all wired up so the judges can play with them to see how they work.

The panel chairman is Bill Dixon from Dixon Yacht Design (UK). The judges are G den Boef, Marine Industry Consultant (The Netherlands); Ms M Bos-De Vaal, Art-Line Interiors B.V. (The Netherlands); G N Bruens, senior lecturer at the Delft University of Technology (The Netherlands) ;T  Conradi, Judel/Vrolijk & Co Yacht Design and president of DBSV (Germany); Tim Donkin, retired ICOMIA secretary general (UK); A Frabetti, Ferretti – Advanced Yacht Technology Centre (Italy); J Jakopin, J&J Design/Seaway (Slovenia) and Roger Marshall, Roger Marshall Yacht Designs (USA).

‘Despite a difficult economic climate,’ Mr Dixon said, ‘we had 125 entries, which shows that marine businesses recognise the value of continuing to develop innovative products.’

Customers are becoming more appreciative of both innovation and good design, as well as of products that help to safeguard the environment, he added.

Once the DAME Awards are over, the show begins. There are three specialist pavilions – the SuperYacht Pavilion, the Composites Pavilion and the Marine Pavilion.

And there are 15 country pavilions this year and it looks as if the Italians have the most space, with the USA, France and the UK all pretty much the same size.

Final notes: Happy Hour - for exhibitors, press and VIP guests only - runs on the Tuesday from 18 - 19.30 hours in the Elicium where the media stands are.

The Press Office is located near the entrance of the Europacomplex (Hall 1). It opens one hour before the start of the show until closing time.

And this year, Wi-Fi is free for visitors and exhibitors.

Make sure you come drop in on the BB stand - EL.11. Kate Didymus and I will be at METS for the duration. But if we're not on the stand, leave us a message and we'll come and find you.