And yet another important event falls victim to corona

Due to the coronavirus, the National Maritime Conference (NMK) will be held as a virtual conference on 10 and 11 May 2021.

As in 2019, the patron of NMK.digital is also Federal Chancellor Angela Merkel

Norbert Brackmann Federal Government Coordinator for the Maritime Industry

While the Rhine is in mourning for the carnival, the North also has to do without an important event. The National Maritime Conference has been cancelled as planned. Although the two events have little to do with each other apart from anticipation, it is certainly a hard blow for all participants. It is no consolation that it has been euphemistically announced that it will be held digitally. It's not the same and it's certainly no longer a social event. It is simply sad, just like the SMM. Norbert Brackmann, MP and Federal Government Coordinator for the Maritime Industry: "When I became Maritime Coordinator, I never thought that I would be able to celebrate a premiere with the NMK twice. In Friedrichshafen in 2019, we showed that the maritime industry is not just located on the coast, but is at home throughout Germany. With a purely virtual National Maritime Conference, we are now demonstrating once again that the maritime industry has long been a high-tech sector beyond all seafaring romanticism and feels just as much at home in the digital world as it does on the world's oceans." As in 2019, the patron of NMK.digital is German Chancellor Angela Merkel. Anyone familiar with the NMK and its flair is bound to be disappointed. The character of the "class reunion" and the initiation of contacts cannot be realised digitally, no matter how it is prettified. The organisers of the world's leading trade fair for the maritime industry, SMM, drew a positive balance of the purely digital conference. During the four days of SMM DIGITAL, 2 - 5 February 2021, 7,000 spectators from 80 countries worldwide followed the event with its 60-hour programme and more than 160 speakers (data: SMM Press Service). But it is not a replacement, as the original plan was to hold a conference in Rostock on 10 and 11 May 2021 with around 1,000 participants. Instead, there will now be a virtual conference on these two days, conducted from a studio in Rostock, in order to convey as much of the maritime feeling as possible online. The conference will be run from a studio in Rostock. Norbert Brackmann: "I am sure that we can also put on an exciting programme and a very informative NMK virtually." We hope so too, but despite all our efforts, the glamour of the prince high from the chariot will not be the same.

There will be no face-to-face meetings this time

High-calibre panels - digital only in 2021

Maritime feeling in Friedrichshafen 2019: Inspector Vice Admiral Andreas Krause at the stand of his navy

Text: BMWi

Photos: Schlüter