All the component parts for a highly successful world maritime technology conference in London (6-10 March 2006) are firmly in place – a technical conference with keynote addresses; nearly 240 technical presentations by authors from 33 countries in ten subject-specific streams; a daily ‘innovation hour’; an exhibition with a rapidly growing exhibitor base; a fascinating programme of industrial visits; and a full social and networking calendar of events. Registrations are coming in from all over the world – there is an early booking discount in place up till 6 January 2006. The organizers expect to welcome 1500 delegates in London at the Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre.

“Our preparations are going superbly; we have a marvellous event that reflects the truly global nature of the maritime industry – an industry that during the period 2005-2009 is set to average over $1 trillion ($1,000 billion) per annum,” explains Keith Read CBE, Chief Executive of IMarEST (Institute of Marine Engineering, science and technology) which is hosting the second WMTC.Among a wide range of subject-specific streams three are closely concerned with ships:

• Marine Engineering Systems (10th ICMES) will cover topics from ballast water treatment to ship emissions and hydrodynamics.
• Commercial Shipping will highlight new technologies enabling commercial shipping to become ever more safe and efficient minimising its environmental impact.
• Naval Engineering will cover many new developments from electric ship to novel hull forms and innovative maintenance regimes.

In the offshore energy area the conference will address the complex and changing role of offshore engineering, oil production and marine renewable energy opportunities and challenges. Underwater vehicles will also be addressed looking at technical developments in autonomous and remotely operated vehicles, and their associated enabling technologiesOther streams will focus on:

• EEZ (Exclusive Economic Zones) Management highlighting innovative solutions that are being considered to satisfy the challenges of EEZ management
• Coast & Ocean Mapping looking at the development of new and innovative hydrographic and ocean mapping technologies and their applications
• Operational Oceanography looking at the delivery of effective oceanographic observing, monitoring and forecasting systems

In addition, in a pure science area discussions will address reefs of the World focusing on coral, temperature, deepwater and artificial reefs and their common traits.

The Innovation Hour is expected to generate substantial interest among delegates. This is aimed at providing a series of lunchtime fifteen-minute presentations and is particularly suited to universities, research agencies and those exhibiting a particular concept.

The WMTC 2006 exhibition is rapidly filling with a wide range of organisations from home and overseas reflecting composition of the WMTC conference – in all there will be up to a hundred organisations represented in the exhibition in March. Admission to the exhibition will be free to all with a professional interest in maritime affairs.