Marine Finance Forum Planned In New Orleans
Marine Money International, a producer of publications, forums and services focused on the maritime industry, will host a Marine Finance Forum in New Orleans November 30 at the Four Seasons Hotel near where Canal Street meets the Mississippi River.
“We’re very focused on marine asset finance,” said Mike McCleery, marketing and sales director for Marine Money. “We do that with conferences, with a magazine, with a monthly internet publication and, on a much smaller scale, some advisory services. We can help an owner or capital partner find a finance partner.”
McCleery said the company is about 35 years old and maintains offices in Singapore, Greece and Stamford, Conn.
“We would say we’re network connectors, really, of people on this topic,” he said.
The Marine Finance Forum in New Orleans will be the first Marine Money event in the Crescent City. The forum will focus on marine finance as it relates to the the inland towboat and barge industry and the Gulf Coast.
The one-day event will start with a session titled “The Inland Barge Industry and Cataclysmic Change: Navigating through Pestilence, War and Natural Disasters.” That opening session, presented by River Transport News’ Sandor Toth, will be just one of several that will tackle topics related to the environment, decarbonization and the ways global issues like the war in Ukraine affect the maritime industry in the United States.
“It started for us as a topic and it’s become more of a theme,” McCleery said.
Other similar sessions will include a panel discussion featuring the Blue Sky Maritime Coalition, a session on the evolution of offshore energy production, two sessions focused on wind energy, and a discussion on the offshore supply vessel market, including how OSVs can serve in wind energy development.
Scattered throughout the day-long conference will be other sessions dedicated to acquisitions, portfolio management, mergers, capital and private equity.
The New Orleans Marine Finance Forum will conclude with a panel discussion on dry and liquid cargoes carried on the inland waterways. The panel will feature Canal Barge Company President and CEO Merritt Lane; ACBL CEO Mike Ellis; Christian O’Neil, president of Kirby Marine Transportation Group; and Lance Sannino, president of Enterprise Marine Services. Mark Wright, vice president-southern region for The American Waterways Operators, will moderate the panel, which will touch on steel prices, low water, COVID-19 policies, oil demand, staffing issues, infrastructure and the war in Ukraine.
McCleery said the location of New Orleans, at the confluence of the inland and coastal regions, and all the issues in play make the Marine Finance Forum both timely and relevant.
“There just seems like a lot of issues in the world right now that are impacting these markets,” he said. “War and pestilence and all the things happening right now are impacting these markets in different ways. This is a way to get the latest on how that might play out from people in leadership positions.”
Scattered throughout the day will be networking opportunities, like a morning coffee break, lunch in the Plimsoll Ballroom and a cocktail reception following closing remarks at 4:15 p.m.
Registration details are available at marinemoney.com.
