Singapore’s showcase annual maritime event has been postponed, making it the latest international gathering to fall victim to the coronavirus as it verges on becoming a global pandemic.
The government's Maritime Port Authority (MPA) confirmed cancellation of Singapore Maritime Week days after organisers of Sea Japan 2020 decided to postpone its Tokyo event slated to take place 11 March.
As it turns into a global crisis, the outbreak of the Covid-19 strain of the coronavirus has slammed conferences and gatherings of all types, from the in-person portion of Facebook's annual developer conference to the Geneva Motor Show and parts of Milan Fashion Week.
Discussions are also under way on how to respond to the virus at maritime events around the world, though June's Posidonia exhibition in Greece is still scheduled to go ahead.
The postponement of Singapore Maritime Week, which was timetabled for the week of 18 April, marks the highest-profile shipping event casualty so far. The week is made up of a series of individual events, a number of which have been cancelled altogether for this year.
“Some events will be postponed to the second half of this year while others will reconvene at SMW 2021,” the MPA said.
The MPA said this configuration would allow “maximum participation” given the “international nature” of Singapore Maritime Week events.
More events casualties
Earlier this month, Asia Pacific Maritime, which was due to be held in Singapore between 18 and 20 March, was postponed until late September 2020.
Marine Money's Hamburg went on as planned on Thursday. But its Marine Money China event, planned for 3 and 4 March in Shanghai, has been rescheduled to November. A Hong Kong event scheduled for April has also been postponed.
"The first and only consideration is the health and safety of our friends and clients," said Marine Money International chairman James Lawrence.
"The venues have been very helpful with the rescheduling and we look forward to contributing to the recovery. But respect for the situation, and all the steps being taken and safety first."
The event cancellations and postponements have not been contained to Asia, where the coronavirus crisis began.
Greek event
On Friday, the International Propeller Club of the United States announced that it has cancelled its Members' Day meeting in planned for march the Yacht Club of Greece in Piraeus.
The decision came a day after Greece confirmed its first coronavirus case. There are now four confirmed cases in the country.
Costis Frangoulis, the president of the Propeller Club's board of governors, said that the decision was made because of the uncertainty over Covid-19 "and merely as a precautionary measure".
"We hope that the situation will improve very soon. We shall get back to you with a new date, depending on forthcoming developments," he told members in the announcement.
The club was planning to honour John Mytilineos, founder of M/Maritime and co-founder of Mytilineos Holdings, with its Members' Award of Excellence.
The TradeWinds Ship Recycling Forum is still scheduled next week on 3 and 4 March in London, since the UK authorities have classified the risk as moderate.
NHST Events head Pranjal Borkotoky said proactive steps have been taken to ensure safety of delegates, including monitoring advice of authorities and asking delegates not to attend if they have been in areas classified as no-go zones or have been to affected areas in the last 14 days.
"Our immediate priority to see that our delegates are safe as they travel to London next week," he said.
Many organisers of shipping events are taking a wait-and-see approach in the hopes that the crisis will calm.
Plans are for the TradeWinds Shipowners Forum Singapore, scheduled for 20 May, to continue as planned.
Posidonia, the biggest shipping event of the year, is still on the calendar, though organisers are watching the coronavirus situation..
"Posidonia 2020 will take place as scheduled on 1-5 June 2020, and it is too early to say if and what sort of effect the coronavirus will have on the exhibition," said Artemis Vamvacopoulou, a spokeswoman for the event. "We are monitoring all developments closely."
She said the event's organisers are following advice from the World Health Organisation but noted that Greek authorities believe that the crisis will start calm down by April.
"The positive aspect is that we have still three months to go till Posidonia, so there is plenty of time to make necessary arrangements if the need arises," she said.
Harry Papachristou, Holly Birkett and Lucy Hine contributed to this article.
