Initiatives will bring together industry leaders, entrepreneurs and students to look for solutions to ocean problems and to address the looming crisis of finding the next generation of maritime professionals to replace an ageing and retiring workforce. 

“We’re working to bring established players together with tomorrow’s talent, creating an arena for inspiration, influence and, we hope, employment.”
Per Martin Tanggaard
Director, Nor-Shipping 2019

Nor-Shipping Director Per Martin Tanggaard has recognised the important of both issues.

“Any business that doesn’t focus on the future will eventually find itself confined to the past. To prosper in the years to come, both in commercial and societal terms (even survival terms), we must find ways to unlock value from our natural resources in a responsible, sustainable manner. And our greatest resource is, I believe, the ocean.

“The maritime and ocean industries need the best minds, energy and competency to flourish into the future – but attracting, engaging with and recruiting that talent is a major challenge.

“At Nor-Shipping 2019 we’re working to bring established players together with tomorrow’s talent, creating an arena for inspiration, influence and, we hope, employment,” he said.

One such initiative – and a highlight of Nor-Shipping 2019 – will be the Intelligence Hunt finals on the Friday 6th of September when international students will compete to find intelligent responses to genuine challenges posed in case studies by maritime business leaders.

The awards, founded by Finland-based SeaFocus, are regarded as a win/win by and for industry and students, who will receive mentoring, real life business experience and practical training; companies will benefit from new ways of working, innovative solutions and access to next-generation talent, while students will establish valuable industry connections.

Another Nor-Shipping event that will act as a magnet for both students and business, including entrepreneurs, is the two-day Ocean Now event which will focus on solving the problems and challenges faced by the ocean.

Large corporations will work with the students, looking for the best minds to find opportunities and develop profitable ideas, in addition to concrete options to tackle ocean issues.

One of the sessions will be the first ever ‘engineerathon’ (video link)

Kongsberg President and CEO Geir Håøy said: “Nor-Shipping gathers the whole of the maritime value chain, from right around the world, in one location. Everyone from shipowners and shipyards to equipment suppliers, brokers, class societies and financial institutions mix together, and that gives us an excellent opportunity to connect with existing, new and potential customers and partners”.

The week-long Nor-Shipping will offer sores of events, talks and activities.

Among them will be:

• The Ocean Leadership Conference focusing on the economic potential in new ocean opportunities and how sustainable solutions in shipping and the ocean space can create future growth.
• The emergence of smart and autonomous ships: How can this make our future more sustainable?
• The blue economy meets green financing – an ocean of opportunities.Sustainable finance, contracts, risk and disclosure in the blue economy.
• Can we find the right tools for decarbonisation of shipping, logistics and the ocean industries?
• Blue Talk interviews focused on addressing key themes linking shipping and maritime technology with the new, emerging ocean economies.
• Norway’s Prime Minister, Erna Solberg, will initiate a roundtable addressing early transition to low-and zero emission fuels in international shipping.

The overarching mindset which Nor-Shipping 2019 wants its 30,000 attendees to take away with them when they leave Oslo will be to develop an industry that symbiotically delivers commercial growth in the ocean economy through sustainable operations. 

Nor-Shipping http://www.nor-shipping.com/ will run from 4-7 June in Oslo.