Seawork celebrates its 25th anniversary in 2024

Now celebrating its 25th anniversary, Seawork has gone from strength to strength since its creation in 1998. Over twenty years on, Seawork still provides one of the key international platforms for commercial marine businesses to connect with their customers and discuss innovations and solutions within their respective industries.

The first edition of Seawork, the leading commercial marine and workboat exhibition, was held in Southampton in 1998.

The Port of Southampton has hosted the event ever since, originally at the QE11 Cruise Terminal, then at the Canary Islands Fruit Terminal in the Western Docks. In 2016, a move to Mayflower Park provided the ground space to create covered hall space for exhibitors, as well as a larger area on the quayside and room for additional pontoon areas for vessels and on water displays.

‘The inaugural Seawork was a great success in 1998, where we attracted over 1,000 attendees. Back then there was so little opportunity for the European commercial marine market to come together under one roof and conduct business. We knew from speaking with different companies that everyone was experiencing the same frustrations therefore we built the platform to bring the industry together. Seawork continually develops and evolves over the years, remaining true to its core, whilst developing focus on the emerging sub-sectors.’  Andrew Webster, CEO of Mercator Media, Seawork organiser.

International commercial marine industry

Seawork is a proven platform for building business networks, it is the meeting place for the commercial marine industry and is supported by over 45 trusted partners including national and international supporting organisations. Marine Civils is co-located with Seawork.

International exhibitors and visitors attend from over 60 countries worldwide along with members from our international supporting associations, such as: International Harbour Masters Association (IHMA); International Jack Up Barge Owners Association (IJUBOA); International Institute of Marine Surveying (IIMS); Big Blue Ocean Clean Up; Royal Institution of Naval Architects (RINA); International Ship Engineering Service Association Ltd (ISES); Association of Brokers and Yacht Agents (ABYA); Yacht Designers and Surveyors Association (YDSA)

The focus in 2023 was on how the commercial marine and workboat sector is adapting and innovating to face the dual pressures of reducing operational expenditure at the same time as meeting the mandatory targets to decarbonise operations.