June 11, 2012 — NEW BEDFORD — The Commercial Marine Expo, a regional trade show catering to all who earn their living on the water, returns to the State Pier in New Bedford Wednesday and Thursday. Held every other year, the show first started in Providence as Fish Expo Atlantic before relocating to New Bedford. The Expo arrived here in 2010 and sold out all of its exhibition space, and the move proved beneficial to all involved, according to show director Ted Hugger of Highliner Events, the show's sponsor.
"Taking the show to the waterfront, among all the fishing boats, tugs and work boats, really brought it back to its roots," he said. "The feedback we got from our exhibitors after we brought the show here was terrific."
The most pleasing aspect was the cross-section of people from the various marine disciplines who came, Hugger said. "There were lots of fishermen but we also got people from barges and tugs, naval architects, the Coast Guard and the military," he said.
Preparations for this year's show are moving into high gear now, he said, with 45 semi-trucks poised to bring in the equipment and materials required for set-up. The show has been marketed more intensively in the media this year and Highliner also mailed 12,000 postcards to a targeted audience. All told, around 200 exhibitors will be represented with 50,000 square feet of indoor exhibit space, Hugger said, including all of the marine businesses in the New Bedford and Fairhaven area.
In addition to exhibit booths inside the state pier buildings, there will be in-water displays at the state pier including tugs, a fire boat, a fishing boat and other work boats. Cooking demonstrations, free health screening and survival suit races are also part of the program. Admission to the show is free to anyone connected with the marine trades. Pre-registration has increased 30 percent over 2010, Hugger told The Standard-Times on Friday.