November 9 - This year's Breakbulk Americas Transportation Conference and Exhibition set a company record for New Orleans attendance recently with a strong turnout of 3,342 attendees and 238 exhibitors.
The conference programme showcased industry leaders and noted analysts during four days of education sessions and conference panel discussions, which addressed the project cargo market outlook, carrier solvency, new Incoterms, modularisation trends and controlling contract costs, among other issues facing the breakbulk and heavy lift sectors.
Keynote Speaker Erik Petersen, director of A.T. Kearney's Global Business Policy Council and senior advisor at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, closed the second day with "Strategic Narratives into the Future," a discussion of global crises and events that have increased the complexities of risk management. Petersen suggested food, water and energy shortages will pressure rapid technological innovation that may help solve these primary concerns for the planet in the near future.
In addition to the conference programme and bustling exhibition hall, Breakbulk Americas 2011 also hostedBreakbulk Education Day; the first annual Rickmers Golf Tournament, which raised USD2,800 for the New Orleans Chapter of Habitat for Humanity; the Breakbulk Business Run, which brought together 40 runners for networking and charity; Project Professionals Group's project forwarder training and certificate programme in project cargo management; and a heavy lift technical workshop sponsored by Proven Logistics Solutions.
Breakbulk Americas is one of three major conferences and exhibitions organised annually by UBM Global Trade's Breakbulk division. The first Breakbulk China Transportation Conference and Exhibition is scheduled for February 28 - March 1, 2012 in Shanghai, an alternate event to the Breakbulk Asia Transportation Conference and Exhibition that has been held in Singapore for the past three years. Breakbulk Europe, the largest Breakbulk event to date, will be held May 22 - 24, 2012 at the Antwerp Expo, Belgium. Next year, Breakbulk Americas will return to Houston from October 9-11, 2012.
In addition to the trio of annual conferences and exhibitions, Breakbulk Events will premiere a trio of two-day congresses in 2012: Breakbulk South America in Rio de Janeiro in August 2012, Breakbulk India in Mumbai, India in November 2012, and Breakbulk Africa in Cape Town, South Africa in September 2012.
