More than 9,045 people attended the 3-day event at the Rotterdam Ahoy Convention Centre
After a two-year hiatus, this year’s Breakbulk Europe exhibition and conference on 17-19 May was back with a bang, located for the first time in Rotterdam, The Netherlands. Industry professionals got the opportunity at long last to connect face-to-face with colleagues, customers and competitors.
“The decision to move to Rotterdam was a good one,” Nick Davison, Portfolio Director, Breakbulk & CWIEME, Hyve Group. “Not only is the port a great fit for the event, but the Port Authority and Rotterdam Community Partners worked with our teams to provide a variety of networking events that took Breakbulk Europe to a new level.”
More than 9,045 people attended the 3-day event at the Rotterdam Ahoy Convention Centre, a remarkable number given the ongoing disruptions caused by Covid and the Ukraine conflict. Some 4,067 companies were represented at the event a rise of 5 percent compared with 2019.
Ahoy’s two exhibition halls hosted 545 exhibitors from across the breakbulk supply chain, including shippers, carriers, forwarders, terminal operators and heavy-lift professionals. Some 118 countries were represented, with the Netherlands, Germany and Belgium leading the charge.
“I am really amazed that you managed to get so many nationalities to the show after two years of Covid,” said Annick Dekeyser, marketing advisor at the Port of Antwerp-Bruges.
“It is great to be back again and hearing the great buzz in the exhibition hall,” said Neil Golding, director at the London-based Energy Industries Council.
A series of informative and engaging panel sessions on the main stage drilled down into the issues that mattered most to the industry. Expert speakers debated hot topics from sustainability and supply chain challenges to future fuels and recruitment.
Innovation and technology played a primary role with a second, themed stage and an all-new Discovery Zone, an experienced-based space featuring products and services from industry innovators.
Discovery Zone exhibitor Gleb Smiryagin, CMO at Moeco said, “Breakbulk Europe is a must-have for any logistics and supply chain business. It is the essence of the entire industry. It is difficult to find such a concentration of the right contacts, connections and potential deals."
Breakbulk Media & Marketing Director Leslie Meredith hosted the popular Women in Breakbulk Breakfast, while our long-running Education Day designed to support and inspire the next generation of breakbulk professionals this year welcomed 60 students.
"I have had the pleasure of being at Breakbulk events various times in Europe, in Asia and in the Americas," said Roger Strevens, head of sustainability at Wallenius Wilhelmsen. "I have never seen a level of activity, a level of energy that we have got here in Rotterdam. If this is our new normal, then thank goodness for that!"
Breakbulk Europe will be held in 2023 at the same location from 6-8 June.
Check out photos from the event on our Flickr page:
www.flickr.com/photos/breakbulk/albums/72177720299424330
Get all the facts and figures from our handy infographic:
europe.breakbulk.com/page/infographic
