Over 500 professionals attended the B2B Mare meetings in La Spezia
Participants include many related companies and all the major superyacht shipyards. A new format is coming in 2024.
La Spezia – The number of participating companies is growing, as is the number of professionals involved and the number of professional appointments, scheduled according to the "speed" formula of 20 minutes each.
The second edition of B2B Mare, an event jointly organized by Confindustria La Spezia, the Chamber of Commerce of the Ligurian Riviera, and CNA, brought together approximately 500 professionals at the La Spezia cruise terminal. The event's primary goal was to connect the entire maritime industry (shipyards, port operators, etc.) with a range of potential suppliers who, without events of this kind, would be difficult to connect with.
In 2022, there were around 100 companies present, rising to 180 this year. The number of B2B meetings increased from 300 to over 650, a testament to the initiative's effectiveness.
"The province of La Spezia is the area where the maritime economy has the greatest impact on the national level, relative to its size. Paradoxically, however, the large companies in the area, especially shipyards, which are currently saturated with orders and space, often struggle to find suppliers suited to their needs, even if they are geographically close. Hence the idea of bringing them together with us," noted a satisfied Ettore Antonelli, vice president of Confindustria La Spezia.
This explains the presence at the B2B Mare event of all the major local shipbuilding companies, such as Fincantieri, the Ferretti Group, Sanlorenzo, The Italian Sea Group, Baglietto, and Intermarine, as well as, moving on to the naval sector, names like Contship Italia, Tarros, Laghezza, and others. At the other end of the table, representatives of companies (furniture, plant engineering, carpentry, components, etc.) from 40 provinces, from Trapani to Pordenone, took turns speaking, along with a Dutch company producing acoustic and thermal insulation systems.
The success of B2B Mare is prompting organizers to modify and expand the event's format, potentially extending it to two days instead of one next year. They will also introduce a participation fee for participating companies, which registered for free for the first two editions. "This way, we can further bring supply and demand closer together, offering everyone even more targeted business meetings," Antonelli concluded.
According to Alessandro Laghezza, head of the logistics group of the same name and president of the Freight Forwarders Association of the Port of La Spezia, B2B Mare could become a key national event, since it covers a vast territory, including the areas from Marina di Carrara to Viareggio, where the world's leading shipbuilding groups operate.
Among this year's participants is the Valdettaro Group, a leading high-end nautical refit company with operating shipyards in La Spezia and Olbia, where it invested €14 million in a new 60 square meter facility inaugurated last July. "The timing is very good; we just closed the nautical year with double-digit growth, but we need to find new suppliers, especially for plumbing, mechanical, and electrical systems," concludes Alessio Donno, the group's COO.
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