News
On December 1st, 2nd, and 3rd C-MAR America participated in the 31st annual International Work Boat Show held at the Convention Center in New Orleans, Louisiana.
The expectations for this years show were tenuous at best because of the recent BP - Mocondo oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico and ensuing de-facto moratorium on new drilling permits. Much to the surprise of industry experts the show wound up being a success with the exhibitors showing at 100% and the attendees at 105% from last years figures. Work Boat Show Executives are reporting that there were 8000 attendees with 5000 exhibitors for a total of 13,000 people in attendance.
The annual event is the premier tradeshow for North America’s work boat industry with over 1000 companies exhibiting their products. It is attended by owner / operator personnel from all levels of management from executive to engineering to project management to purchasing.
The keynote speaker for this year show was retired U.S. Coast Guard Admiral Thad Allen the former Commandant and National Incident Commander for the Deepwater Horizon disaster and Hurricane Katrina rescue / relief efforts.
C-MAR had a 10’ x 20’ booth right on one of the main isles that saw a lot of traffic for the three days. The C-MAR Group was well represented at the trade show by Ron Murray, Russell Hodge, Fergus Campbell, Andy Murray, Tom Kelly, Jeff Bockmeyer, Michelle Ellsworth, and Frank Donovan.
This years’ show was different from shows in the past because attention was not only directed at the oil and gas market segment. This year the talk was about other types of vessels such as DP lift boats that will be used to service offshore wind farms and a fleet of new lightering vessels. We were not able to secure any contracts at the show but we were successful in pushing along potential contracts that will be completed and signed in January. The success of a trade show is usually measured by the amount of follow up work that needs to be done after the show and this year we all have a ton of work to follow up on.
After the show on the second day C-MAR hosted a reception at the Wax Museum from 8:00 – 12:00 PM along with two ally companies (Karl Senner Inc, and Governor Control Systems Inc.) The venue was an overwhelming success with many of our best customers and their wives enjoying Cajun food, spirits and a disk jockey. The company that was hired to organize the venue for all three companies has estimated that around 500 people were in attendance. What a great success!
Next year C-MAR will be exhibiting in the exact same booth location and plans to have an even better Work Boat Show than this year was.
