A major exhibition focusing on subsea and the “blue economy” has held its first day at P&J Live in Aberdeen.
Billed as the world’s largest subsea exhibition and conference, Subsea Expo 2022, organised by the Global Underwater Hub, is being held over three days.
Hundreds of people are expected to attend to hear from world-leading experts on a range of subjects and celebrate the sector’s achievements at the Subsea Expo Awards on Wednesday.
Surging Blue Economy
Speaking at the opening Scottish trade minister Ivan McKee said Scotland will take “more than its fair share” of a surging Blue Economy opportunity, which is expected to be worth $3 trillion (£2.2tn) globally by 2030, he said.
Mr McKee discussed the importance of capturing the opportunity for Scottish underwater industry.
He said: “Those opportunities are really quite substantial, not least in supporting the growth and job creation, but also capitalising on Scotland’s opportunity to lead the energy transition.
“Unlocking this underwater opportunity, which of course ranges from offshore energy to aquaculture, defence, telecoms and a whole range of those verticals, is crucial to ensuring Scotland increases its leading position and share in this global market.
“The numbers are quite astounding.”
The $3 trillion looks across all sectors of the “Blue Economy” save for defence, said Global Underwater Hub (GUH) chief executive Neil Gordon at the plenary session.
GUH help identify opportunities
Mr Gordon highlighted that the newly-launched GUH is here to help companies to identify opportunities across various sectors across the blue economy, such as defence and aquaculture.
“The hub sits in an underwater space, helping those companies move and identify across those different sectors.
“Because as those ‘oceans of opportunity’ arise, looking out there saying ‘where do we go, what do we do, how do we get into those sectors?’
“That’s the real help the Global Underwater Hub is positioned to deliver.”
Exhibitors delighted to be back
Andrew Blaquiere managing director of energy services firm Maritime Developments (MDL) said the exhibition was an ideal time to showcase new investments and service offerings to clients.
He said: “It’s reinvigorating to be back meeting in person and face to face.
“It’s the 10th time MDL has exhibited at the show so it’s been fun to reconnect with customers and see what the opportunities are.
“Covid was challenging from a people resourcing point of view but we took advantage of the time to really focus on our business, what we want to offer to the market and we spent the time building new assets and investing in new equipment and services.
“We are having the best year so far that we’ve ever had and the projection is to probably have the best year that MDL has ever done right out of Covid.
“It’s a super exciting time for us.”
Subsea Expo 2022 a chance to showcase
Marine equipment fabrication and rental specialist Motive Offshore Group chief operating officer James Gregg said: “The main thing for us is getting back networking with clients and meeting them face to face.
“It’s been two years since we were at Subsea Expo. It’s the same people but you forget about businesses and this reminds you what it is all about.
“Clients have come up specifically to see us from England which is fantastic.
“It’s really important to get a chance to meet clients and suppliers.”
Aberdeenshire-based pipeline specialists Stats Group marketing manager Darran Pledger said: “It’s great to welcome back subsea expo as we return to in person events.
“Subsea Expo has been well attended and offers a great opportunity to showcase our range of innovative, technology-led pipeline integrity solutions.
“It has provided a great platform to meet up with clients and keep up to date with the latest industry developments.”
