Do you depend on the sea? Don’t miss SOS.

I do apologise for running two promotions for conferences with which I am connected in two consecutive months but that is the way the calendar fell.

First, to declare an interest: I am the current chairman of the World Ocean Council. It is a combination of a “think tank” and an industry association for the international ocean business community. It is the only organisation working for the wider ocean business community on a global basis.

WOC’s membership comprises some of the world’s biggest companies as well as some of the smallest, and many in between. Members include other industry associations and similar groups representing even more organisations.

Member companies come from the cargo shipping, shipbuilding, fishing, oil and gas, seabed mining, aquaculture, dredging, marine construction, marine tourism, cruise shipping and work boat sectors. Indeed, they represent pretty much all the activities that depend upon the world’s seas for their livelihoods.

Most of you would be well aware that the international community, working through the United Nations and regional bodies, has come together to agree on a series of sustainable development goals (SDGs) with the objective of repairing, restoring, protecting and preserving the environment, in this case the marine environment. That community includes most national governments, major NGOs and many forward thinking businesses and business associations. Together, they have agreed on the SDGs as the framework and priorities for the next fifteen years.

Those of you who are still unaware of those SDGs should soon make yourselves so. They will affect you even if they are not already doing so. You need to be prepared for the changes they will bring about in your sector of the maritime industry. To be prepared is to be pre-armed.

The challenge for the ocean business community is to define and develop its plans, commitments, targets and indicators to address these goals in relation to the environment, sustainability and responsible practices.

The World Ocean Council is the only organisation that has been working with, and for, the ocean business community on this from even before the SDGs were developed. It saw them coming and has worked assiduously to ensure they are as realistic and workable as possible.

A major component of WOC’s annual activity is its annual conference, the Sustainable Ocean Summit. The SOS is the only global, multi-sectoral gathering of the ocean business community with a focus on sustainable, responsible use of ocean space and resources.

This year the SOS will be held in Rotterdam, one of the world’s most important maritime centres, from November 30 to December 2. (For more information, visit www.oceancouncil.org).

It will be cold outside but it will be warm, fascinating and very productive inside the Rotterdam Hilton!

Not just a conference, the SOS is a working meeting of the wider, global ocean business community which aims to develop the themes, programmes and priorities that the WOC, as the secretariat for those in the ocean business community who are committed to sustainability, and to work with that community to achieve the best possible outcomes for it and the wider population of our planet.

From my own experience, I can assure you that it also provides one of the best “networking” activities and experiences that I can think of in my forty years of participating in international maritime industry conferences. Above all, it is the only conference that is truly cross-sectoral. You will meet an amazing range of people from all sectors and many nations who are all committed to achieving common objectives.

I am well aware that there are a number of other international conferences that generally address the marine environment. They all have their places, of course, but most are organised by governments, NGOs, very specific industry associations or publishers.

Apart from the very important fact that most of them are considerably more expensive than SOS, they are not presented by and for the ocean business community. Unlike SOS, they have no intent or means to develop and follow through with programmes, projects and efforts with and for the ocean business community to deliver progress on the discussions at the conference.

If you are serious about your future in the wider maritime industry and its future relationship with and place in the marine environment, you owe it to yourself and your business to travel to Rotterdam at the end of November and participate in the Sustainable Ocean Summit.