MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Business deals “above 600 million USD” in Chile’s naval and maritime expo

HMS Gloucester a special guest of the event in the Valaparaiso bay

The recent Exponaval 2010 and Transport 2010 exhibit held in the Chilean port of Valparaíso was described as a complete success by the organizers of the event that convened over 150 exhibitors, 34 foreign navies’ delegations and totalling business deals “above 600 million US dollars”.

“I think this fair has been very successful and each year it further consolidates; the secret has been the fusion of Exponaval with refers to naval defence issues, with Transport that deals with maritime and ports issues”, said Admiral Edmundo González, head of the Chilean Navy, one of the organizers of the event that has become the leading and largest in Latinamerica of its kind.

“Chile has become the leader in maritime and naval defence exhibits in Latinamerica contributing to develop our maritime commitment as a nation. It is also an opportunity to show the technological and building advances in global naval defence and becomes an effective debating scenario for Latinamerican navies to discuss the renovations of naval power”, added Admiral Gonzalez.

Transport 2010 in its second exhibit “has allowed us to display a special pavilion dedicated exclusively to this industry with a wide range of opportunities for ports, maritime transport and logistics” said the chief of the Chilean navy.

Among the outstanding points of the Exponaval 2010 and its 15.000 visitors was the presence of South Atlantic patrol HMS Gloucester (now on route to Southampton where she expects to arrive on time for Christmas), the ultra modern US Navy HSV-2 catamaran-design USS Swift and the Mexican navy’s ARM Baja California, an interceptor patrol vessel with an all weather helicopter operations capability.

HMS Gloucester was specially invited to participate of the Exponaval 2010 based on the long established historic links between the Royal Navy and its Chilean counterpart. Several surface units from the Chilean Navy were formerly Royal Navy frigates.

Last September while en route to the Falklands HMS Gloucester was banned from entering Montevideo. At the time Uruguayan authorities apologized but said they must give “priority” to relations with neighbouring Argentina.

R/Admiral Eduardo Junge, head of the Chilean Navy Services and President of the Exponaval organizing committee underlined the world-level attraction capacity of the naval event which brings together officials involved in maritime and naval forces decision making.

“The incorporation of Transport 2010 has been a great advance and we are already organizing the 2012 edition which has been incorporated into the industry’s world calendar. Our challenge now is to find a larger space for the two exhibits following on this edition’s 12% expansion in the number of exhibitors and area covered”, said R/Admiral Junge.

He also anticipated the main issues to be considered in 2012: clusters in the maritime field and in the naval area, humanitarian aid and natural catastrophes control, based mainly on the experience of Haiti.

Carlos Parada, Exponaval manager said the event from the very beginning, “achieved the main objectives, which was to bring together the world’s most important decision makers in maritime and port logistics and in naval defence issues”.