METS continues to grow

From 19 to 21 November 2013 the 26th edition of METS will take place in the Amsterdam RAI, the Netherlands. The international trade exhibition of equipment, materials and systems for the international marine leisure industry is still growing. Again thousands of new and innovative products will be exhibited, forums will be organised and do last but certainly not least the prestigious DAME that will be awarded.

”Every year METS is a network party for the people in the industry. If you imagine that we started in 1988 with less than 100 exhibitors and last year 1,320 companies were present as exhibitor you could say that the concept of METS works. Today we are internationally recognised as a market leader”, Irene Dros, domain manager maritime at Amsterdam RAI, reflects.

Trade associations

According to Dros this current position was made possible because of the first edition of METS in 1988 where both an American and British pavilion were present thanks to the trade associations of these countries. Even now the trade associations play a major role: ”The trade associations are the ambassadors of companies around the world, eager to help promoting the export of national products of these companies. Companies that want to start focusing on export can ask the associations for support, which will help them to put themselves on the map. And no better way than exhibiting at an international exhibition: you will find everyone you need, from consumers to producers. The only thing you have to organise, is to bring yourself and your product. No waste of time or money, as we arrange uniform stands.”

The international character of METS, which attracts both visitors as exhibitors, is shown by three new country pavilions, making a total of 18: Slovenia, China and South Korea. Slovenia is the first Central European country to exhibit at METS, in 2014 Poland will follow Dros reveals. ”The Central European countries are increasingly professionalising. They are thinking about modernising and presenting themselves to the rest of the world. Exhibiting is a good opportunity to show this to other countries, potential clients”, according to Dros. Chinese companies have been present at METS since 2001, but were never clustered in one pavilion. A partnership between Chinese companies, the agency of the RAI in China and the trade associations made it possible to unite the Chinese in one pavilion. ”Again, the trade organisations play a major role”, explains Dros on the rise of these new pavilions.

WMN No. 7 2013 34 1From the early start in the eighties, the Dutch trade organisation HISWA, Holland Yachting Group, organises the Holland Pavilion. Over 150 Dutch companies will present themselves at the exhibition, of which 30 will participate in the HISWA Pavilion. According to André Vink, managing director of HISWA, the METS offers the chance to put the Dutch on the map internationally as the leading yacht building industry and most developed water recreation country in the world. ”The METS is a good home match for the Dutch companies and ‘around the corner’. The knife cuts both ways as Dutch manufactures can present themselves to international buyers while the Dutch marine leisure industry will come as a visitor to the exhibition, and that makes it all very interesting. We are accustomed to present ourselves internationally, but the majority of the Dutch will come as visitors who wish to orient themselves”, Vink describes the share of the Dutch. “After a visit at the boat shows in Cannes and Southampton and a HISWA Holland Yachting Group Pavilion at the Monaco Yacht Show, METS will give Jeroen Sirag, our new export manager, a flying start.”

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Pavilions

Another example of growth, next to the 18 country pavilions are the three product pavilions. Three different pavilions, the Super Yacht pavilion, the Marina & Yard pavilion and the Construction Material pavilion, will again be organised, as a niche event at METS, where exhibitors can appeal to a specific audience and visitors can focus on a given market. “We aim to bring more attention to the Marina & Yard pavilion and the Construction Material pavilion,” tells Dros, “was e are trying to attract a new kind of visitor, who will focus more on the scientific and technical side of the marine leisure industry. This leads to an enrichment of the visitors.” To achieve this, the Construction Material pavilion has, for example, attracted a new partner: Materia with the biggest collection of raw materials in the world from different sectors such as the maritime and the aviation industries. Materia will organise the Material Xperience in the CMP during METS. There will be a selection of 125 of the latest materials from all industries that should trigger innovation and new ideas. ”Materials used in the automotive sector may also be used effectively in for example shipbuilding”, Dros argues.

This year the official launch of the ICOMIA World Marina Conference 2014 will be at the Marina Yard pavilion, to be held next year in Istanbul. Last year’s well-received super yacht preview, where the exhibitors of the Super Yacht pavilion and the representatives of the Super Yacht Forum meet, will also take place again on Monday evening. Dros: “The delegates are so busy that they do not have time to visit the exhibitors and by organising this preview we make that possible.”

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Not only the delegates of the conferences are busy, visitors also have a lot to see and to listen to in just three days time. In earlier years METS offered the possibility to make appointments with exhibitors through an online portal, this year this option also offers match-making. Exhibitors can indicate online whether they are looking for distributors, so visitors can see which manufacturers are interested, which makes it possible for both parties to get connected and make an appointment during the exhibition. Exhibitors can also create a digital company presentation on the exhibitors’ ‘MyPage’, where they are responsible for keeping the information on their company up to date. When they develop an innovative product, or have a new assortment, it is the exhibitors’ responsibility to put it online. Dros: “In this way the information is available to the visitors 365 days per year. The more you put online on your ‘MyPage’, the more you are present on the homepage of METS’ website, so you can serve visitors with the information they are looking for and a match can be made. It is a missed opportunity not to make use of this possibility.”

For METS, but also for the exhibitors and visitors, the newest and most innovative products are extremely important. To encourage innovation, METS annually organises the DAME award, according to Dros ”the most prestigious award of the industry”, partly because of the independent jury which consists of experts from all over the world and from all different areas within the industry. Contenders have to submit an innovative product, or an innovative application of an existing product, whereby design is the most important criterion. Winners receive of maximum press attention, assures Dros, spreading worldwide attention for the product.

No 7 MbH Okt-Nov 2013 voor Website.jpg 34 4Another highlight is the Young Professional Club, which was organised for the first time in 2011 for young people under the age of 35 working in the industry. Dros: ”By organising the Young Professional Club we give the industry’s new generation a face, clustering them and introducing them to the network. Currently there is a generation gap in the industry, the generation that is about ready to retire is looking for worthy successors to ensure the future of the business they often founded personally. In addition, this older generation has, in general, less knowledge about the new way of doing business and the new media, but on the other hand they have a lot of knowledge about the industry. We would like to see that they transfer this knowledge to the younger ones. Therefore we invite alumni to share their 30 years of experience, organise meet & greets with captains of industry and give presentations.”

The future of METS

”As I said before, METS is the market leader. There is no exhibition like METS in this industry”, Dros says confidently. ”It is a trade show, it is unique that only professionals from the industry can visit, and it creates a platform for every professional in the marine leisure and yacht building industry. Without METS the Dutch industry has no platform of this kind of setting to present themselves to the industry.” Vink adds: ‘‘METS is a great opportunity for the Dutch industry, it creates a unique chance not only for yacht building, but also for suppliers, distributors, marina operators and others related to the industry. This is a fantastic achievement. And it underlines the world leaders role of Holland in the yacht builders industry. It is quite simple: Think Yachts, Think Holland.”

Anne Kregting