There was a youthful new vibe at Singapore Maritime Week.
Joining the usual grey-suit brigade of shipping veterans at the annual event was a younger and more diverse generation of professionals clad in jeans and T-shirts — the digital entrepreneurs who are inventing the technology that will one day turn shipping into a zero-emissions industry.
Not surprisingly, decarbonisation and technology topped the discussion agenda at the many conferences, seminars, workshops and briefings — perhaps too much for some of the older hands, who by the end of a gruelling week grumbled that they were suffering from “decarbonisation information overload syndrome”.
If sitting all day in dimly lit hotel ballrooms listening to the latest developments on the decarbonisation and technology fronts proved too much for some, respite was readily available in the evenings at a multitude of well-attended parties hosted by companies and organisations in venues ranging from office tower rooftops and hotels to riverside restaurants and even the national art gallery.
