Europe awaits with more visits this month

I’m starting in Italy, where I’ll be heading to Bergamo and Milan, to learn about the current state of the country’s industry and economy. In the last three or four years the economy has been gradually recovering after the crash that hit markets across the world, so it will be interesting to hear the thoughts of companies in our industry regarding whether the growth will continue, and potentially accelerate.

The country also held an election earlier this year, with a coalition of the Five Star Movement and the League party eventually breaking the deadlock that followed the public vote.

It will be an interesting opportunity to learn more about what the new government means for industry in Italy, both in terms of whether businesses are benefitting from favourable conditions, and whether more investment is being encouraged in the types of projects that require overhead lifting equipment.

Towards the end of September I’ll be travelling to Amsterdam, for more visits to companies in our sector and also to attend the IMCA Lifting & Rigging Seminar on September 27.

The seminar, run by the IMCA (International Marine Contractors Association), expands from the IMCA Rope Forum and will focus on offshore cranes, many of which you will regularly read about in Hoist.

Applications for the cranes cover the offshore power, subsea, wind, heavy lift and decommissioning sectors, and I’ll be learning more about new developments including how digitalisation is enhancing operations in the industry, and the future of subsea lifting.

If you’ll be attending the event and would like to meet to discuss your company and your thoughts on the industry, please do get in contact and I will be happy to chat.

For the rest of the week I’ll be using Amsterdam as a base for daily travel to other companies in the Netherlands, with, again, the aim of finding out more about their operations and how the Netherlands industry is performing at the moment, and the outlook for the coming weeks and months.

Talking of travel and looking to the future, it’s that time of year in the annual cycle of running a magazine that necessitates some planning for the following year, in terms of where I will be jetting off to.

Logimat was a great show this year, with lots of relevant equipment to see and some good information exchanged, so I am planning on attending again in February. Similarly, Promat in 2017 was a very useful experience when I attended, so I have added the 2019 event to my diary. Please do let me know of any events you think I should attend.

I’ll also be looking at trips further afield, to keep the scope of the magazine as global as possible.

Daniel Searle, editor