February 3 - The global recession appears to have had little impact on the 2nd Annual Breakbulk Asia Transportation Conference & Exhibition that took place last week at the Suntec Convention & Exposition Centre in Singapore.
A total of 1,939 attendees travelled from all over the world to network with some 120 exhibitors and attend two days of panel discussions featuring industry leaders addressing the specialised challenges and transportation trends facing the breakbulk, heavy and over-dimensional cargo sector.
"The record attendance outpaces last year's crowd by 21 percent, a figure that we believe indicates the heavy lift sector in Asia is definitely in a recovery mode," said Peter Tirschwell, senior vice president at UBM Global Trade, which owns JoC Events, the organiser of the event.
Keynote speakers Mark Marian Siegert, managing director Asia-Pacific at Agility Project Logistics, and Thomas Kim, executive director, Regional Transportation Research at Goldman Sachs (Asia) LLC, were equally upbeat about the coming year for the project cargo sector and the economy overall in Asia. Kim cited the favourable interest rate environment, relatively benign inflation expectations, and rising consumer confidence as reasons for optimism, while Siegert detailed China's growing prominence in the project cargo sector and the plethora of mega-energy and extraction projects gearing up in the Asia Pacific region.
The Breakbulk Asia show also included a record number of exhibitors, up 75 percent from the inaugural show last year, creating the largest gathering of breakbulk cargo professionals in Asia and important networking opportunities for all.
Information about the 3rd Annual Breakbulk Asia Transportation Conference & Exhibition, scheduled for 24-26 January 2011, at the Suntec Centre in Singapore, as well as other breakbulk conferences organised by JoC Events can be found at www.joc.com/events.
