Emirates Inflatable Boat Establishment reconfirms participation at Gulf Maritime 2004

LIBRA is the company's official trade mark, registered with the Ministry of Economy and Commerce, UAE. In keeping with its drive to penetrate international markets, Emirates Inflatable Boat Establishment, has once again confirmed its participation at Gulf Maritime 2004, to be held at Expo Centre Sharjah from 19-21 April 2004. Gulf Maritime is the Middle East's only exhibition dedicated to the complete commercial, government and military maritime industry.

Commenting on their participation, Mr. Mustafa Ashgar, General Manager of EIBE said, "Our company is keen to have a continuous presence and participation at local, Gulf-level and international exhibitions and events, and we have identified GULF MARITIME as an important exhibition to further our expansion plans.

"In fact, the 2003 edition proved very successful for us, exceeding our exhibiting expectations and objectives. This response has prompted us to re-participate with an even larger stand.

"Not only that," he added, "we have taken the opportunity to be an official sponsor of Gulf Maritime this time. We see this show as a key event in our future marketing plans."

Emirates Inflatable Boat Est. specializes in design and manufacture of inflatable boats of rigid hull as well as soft tender ones with an aluminium floor, widely used for rescue operations, fun and leisure. It has a product line of Rigid Hull Inflatable Boats having hulls made of Glass Reinforced Plastic ( GRP ) of sandwich construction with polyurethane foam and balsa wood. The tubes are made of Hypalon ( Dupont ) proven fabric, the most durable fabric for inflatable boats insuring safe and reliable operation of the boat.

"We will be promoting our entire range of inflatables at GULF MARITIME " said Mr. Mustafa Ashgar, "giving visitors the opportunity to inspect our boats at close range. The main purpose of participating is
to support our ambitious plans to penetrate international markets and enlarge our customer base." he concluded.

The company's customer base includes the marine forces, the police, diving companies, marine clubs, petroleum companies, marine survey and rescue circles in the UAE and abroad. The companies export markets include the Sultanate of Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Jordan, Libya, India and Nigeria.

The second edition of Gulf Maritime has a sizable number of re-participating companies, viz. Mohd. Abdul Rahman Al Bahar, Balenciaga Shipyard, Gulf Craft, Batservice, Berg Propulsion, Bharati Shipyard, Colombo Dockyard, Dubai Drydocks, Dubai Ship Docking Yard (Al Jadaf), Seaspray Aluminium Boats, Daewoo Engines, ZF marine, Stone Marine, Teignbridge Propellers, to name a few.

Commenting on behalf of Expo Centre Sharjah, Mr. Fasahat Ali Khan, Deputy Director General said "GULF MARITIME 2004 has been witnessing healthy re-bookings with currently 61% of the 2003 exhibitors having rebooked their participation. This is a strong indicator of the quality of the event in 2003, where 85% of the exhibitors were satisfied with the quality of the visitors at their stands and 79% with the attendance of their target groups. We are sure that with the on-going negotiations, we will have re-bookings from over 80% of the 2003 exhibitors."

Held in March 2003, the show's first edition attracted a total of 1,684 qualified trade visitors from 40 different countries, generating potential deals worth in excess of US $ 19 million for the exhibitors, with spot orders worth US$ 7,682,500. Visitors came from Australia, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Belarus, Belgium, Canada, China, Djibouti, Egypt, Eritrea, France, Greece, India, Iran, Iraq, Japan Kenya, Korea South, Kuwait, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Pakistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Sultanate of Oman, Switzerland, Thailand, Turkey, U.A.E., United Kingdom, and Yemen.

The 2004 edition has attracted a number of new exhibitors, which include Souriss Industrie from Algeria, AMC Search & Tenix Defense from Australia, Arab Shipbuilding from Bahrain, Wijsmuller from Germany, Damen Shipyard from Holland, ABG Shipyard, Chowgule & Co. & Hitech Elastomers from India, Transas from Ireland, J. Al Omani Fiberglass from Kuwait, Rodman Polyships from Spain, ANA Group Dis Tic Ltd. & Sanmar Ltd. from Turkey, Al Bawardy Marine, Dolphin Heat Transfer, Emphor FZCO, Gulf Development Systems, Hamly International (Bele Engineering), Lambda Electronics, Mohd. Bin Masaood & Sons - M & E Division, Nico International UAE, Sea Horse Marine LLC, Tensosys, West Marine Trading LLC from the UAE, D.M.A. from UK and Thrustmaster from USA.

"Already, sales are up by some 50 per cent compared with the same time last year" said Mr. Khan "An important factor that is helping the exhibition," he said further, "is the boom in the Gulf region's maritime industry. Presently, there is an enormous amount of marine related construction in port development, shipyard construction and residential and commercial real estate development, on and beyond the coasts.

"We thus expect GULF MARITIME 2004 to be bigger than the 2003 edition, featuring more exhibitors, greater geographical representation and increased visitor turn-out" he concluded.