After a prolonged period of pandemic restrictions impacting the North American and global shipping industry events, it was great to be back in person with our North American team at this year’s CMA Shipping – the 37th Annual Expo and Conference held in Stamford, Connecticut, USA.
We took the opportunity this year to fully submerge ourselves in the seminar programme and to showcase from our booth the full extent of our lubricant insight and technical expertise.
For Lubmarine, sharing knowledge and best practice with our customers is a critical part of our service approach, and we were delighted to be able to engage with regional and international customers old and new. It was wonderful to meet so many familiar and new faces at the event including representatives from our customers and prospect customers.
We were able to highlight the breadth and scale of our operation, and explain our involvement as a charterer – more than purely a supplier of quality marine lubricants and services. Our extensive range of lubricating solutions were on show with technical presentations to explain how our products are applied for all components of seagoing vessels, engine oils for IMO2020 compliant fuels, and a full line of Environmentally Acceptable Lubricants. We discussed the industry’s approach to decarbonization and the advancing role of lubrication management tools that are helping to shape tomorrow’s shipping operations.
North and South America are busy markets for us and the most recent addition to our laboratory network located in Chicago, ensures we have a specialist team on hand to deliver onshore dedicated technical and lubricating oil analysis services for monitoring the performance and condition of marine engines and auxiliary machinery to better support our local customers.
During the last year, our U.S. team also increased its customer support with direct off-shore bulk and packed deliveries through Belle Chase Marine’s Gordon K - with a record-breaking delivery of 77,000 liters of Talusia Universal - which represents a great addition to the services Lubmarine can offer the growing LNG fleet in North America.
Talusia Universal has been re-qualified and fully approved by MAN ES and WinGD for use on all engines, including LNG.
While a core part of our attention at CMA Shipping was focused on orders to supply international and interstate trading vessels such as tankers, bulk carriers and container ships, we were also encouraged by the interest in our products from the cruise sector.
Away from the shipping sector, a growing part of our business is supplying power plants in the Caribbean, and we used the event to highlight how we are well positioned out of Houston to service this market and the exporting of flexi-bag containers from Houston to the Bahamas and Dominic Republic.
The event raised additional insights for our team as the offshore wind industry is increasingly gathering momentum, particularly in the Northeast. The area from Southern New Jersey through to the east end of Long Island presents incredible focus for Lubmarine as the renewable sector will need lubricant solutions for support vessels used in crew and material transportation, component supply, construction and turbine installation such as WTIVs and SOVs, as well as the lubricant needed for the engineering components of the wind turbines themselves. This is one market that is sure to grow over the next few years.
Our thanks extends to the event organisers – Connecticut Maritime Association and Informa Markets - in the way that they created a brilliant way for Lubmarine to engage exhibitors and visitors alike. The event culminated in a great turn out for the Commodore Awards Gala Dinner where the passing of the hat and 2022 Commodore Award was presented to Mr. Gary Vogel, Chief Executive Officer of Eagle Bulk Shipping Inc. It was an inspiring evening. Our own annual CMA welcome party took place on the first night of the event, and we hope everyone enjoyed the Lubmarine hospitality on the booth.
Attendance at CMA Shipping proved to be a good investment for us. CMA is the largest commercial association in the United States, bringing together leaders of industry and governments to share ideas and explore answers to today’s operation issues. We were proud to be part of this year’s event, and we look forward to returning again in 2023!