Ocean Business Celebrates Most Successful Show Yet!

Last week’s Ocean Business show at the National Oceanography Centre (NOC) in Southampton was phenomenally successful, with visitor numbers up an incredible 29%, taking attendance to 4589 visitors. With all four previous shows brimming with visitors from all over the world, it’s hard to believe it could get any better, but the show delivered everything it promised for face-to-face interaction between exhibitors and customers.





Versha Carter, Group Director for Ocean Business commented, “We are absolutely thrilled at the success of Ocean Business. It has once again surpassed expectations and we have had a flood of positive feedback, with many telling us it was the best show they have ever attended.”


There was a constant flow of interest throughout the show with the international exhibition presenting cutting-edge technologies from nearly 350 companies around the globe. This was matched by a presence of international visitors which formed 38% of total visitor numbers.


The show satisfied customer after customer. Graham Sloane, Commercial Manager at Planet Ocean, commented, “Pound for pound the best trade show in the industry. Quality event, Quality leads, Quality Business.”


Alan Cameron, General Manager at GSE Rentals, called it ‘the best show in the industry calendar’, while Christopher Wallace, Sales Manager at Hydro Group, eulogised its success during a difficult time in the oil and gas industry, saying, “Breaking the oil and gas trend, Ocean Business has given us lots of business leads, we’ll definitely be back in 2017.”


Ocean Business’ format, which includes three days of training and demonstration sessions for hands on product testing in test tanks, on vessels, on the dockside or in classrooms, proved a highlight of the show and was exceptionally well attended with nearly 2200 individual sessions booked.


Cheri Arvonio, Ocean Business’ event manager, believes the show has become an unmissable event for the industry and this was reflected by important associated industry events held at the show; “We’re proud to have hosted some really high profile events - these ranged from a one day seminar on the Blue Economy, to a Maritime Autonomous Systems Workshop hosted by The Society of Maritime Industries and seminars chaired by the Canadian High Commission. These organisations see that we are bringing important decision makers together and it simply makes sense to coincide their events with Ocean Business which is a priority in diaries.”


Offshore Survey and Ocean Careers which run alongside Ocean Business, were also extremely successful this year. Offshore Survey included a superb line-up of presentations, carefully selected by the technical committee with support from the Hydrographic Society. Conference Chairman, Ed Danson, International Sales Manager of C-Nav Group, enthused, “This year's record attendance at Ocean Business once again emphasised its position as the ocean community's premier trade show. The quality of papers presented at Offshore Survey was exceptional, and delegate attendance and participation was excellent.”


It was a similar story at Ocean Careers, which had an outstanding turnout of visitors with the room packed with UK and international students listening to speakers talking about career paths, advice, and anecdotes about their work. The speakers were extremely enthusiastic and successful in engaging students during the sessions.
As always, the show excelled at networking opportunities with social gatherings which ranged from welcome drinks to a wine trail and gala dinner with first class entertainment.


With so many requests already for repeat bookings at the next show, Ocean Business will be revealing information about dates and stand sales for Ocean Business 2017 in the next few weeks.

Location: Southampton, United Kingdom