Rising prosperity in many parts of the world, an increase in global trade, a greater international division of work – there are many reasons why maritime trade has been booming in recent years. What maritime logistics providers can expect in the future will be discussed at marilog, Conference for Maritime Logistics, which takes place at transport logistic 2007. Around 100 inland and maritime ports will be exhibiting between 12 and 15 June in Munich at this international trade fair for logistics, telematics and transport.
The performance of maritime logistics chains is now of key significance in the value-added process in international companies. Because of the strong increase in transport flows, cargo space is no longer so easily available. Rising cargo rates for ore, coal and oil are the consequence. The ports can still manage to handle the growing volumes, but bottlenecks are already forecast in the near future. Economics experts are confident that maritime trade will continue to grow at an above-average rate in the coming years. This applies in particular to container traffic. The strong economic growth of countries like China, India, Russia and Brazil, for example, are ensuring full order books for the transporters of heavy goods, who also transport components for refineries and power stations across the seas.
What does all this mean for ports, shipping companies, forwarders, shipping agents and the many other service-providers in the maritime logistics chain? Will the ships soon be lining up outside the ports, like container trucks do on land? What effect will the tightened security measures and rising energy prices have? What significance will the trend towards bigger ships have for ports? What is the best way of managing space? And: How are European ports preparing themselves for the future?
Experts will be tackling all these questions at the marilog conference on maritime logistics, on Tuesday, 12 June 2007. They will be discussing the effects on the individual markets – containers, heavy cargo, logistics for automotive and refrigerated transports, short-sea traffic etc. Between 1.30 and 5 p.m. the Deutscher Verkehrs-Verlag will be hosting a forum on ‘Strategy 2015 – Challenges and success factors’, in Forum II, Hall A3 at the New Munich Trade Fair Centre. The speakers come from companies who are among the world leaders in the various segments: Baldur Gudnason (CEO Eimskip, Reykjavik), Emanuele Grimaldi (Grimaldi Group, Naples), Niels Stolberg (Managing Partner, Beluga Shipping, Bremen), Andre Toet (CEO Maersk Europe) and Hans Smits (CEO Port of Rotterdam). Companies like Beluga, Eimskip, Grimaldi, and Maersk have grown particularly strongly in recent years.
marilog has been taking part in Munich in parallel with transport logistic since 2005.

Further information: www.marilog.com or www.transportlogistic.de