The ITE Group announces the acquisition of Australia-based Baird Maritime’s exhibition business and the launch of TransAsia, a tradeshow for transport and logistics in Southeast Asia.
Baird Maritime’s events include Asian Workboat and China Maritime, which are hosted in Singapore and Hong Kong. The company, which is led by industry veteran Neil Baird, is concerned with connecting the community of work-boat owners in Asia, the Middle East and Australia.
While ITE will move the operational management of the events to its offices in Hong Kong, Baird will retain an active role in the business for at least two years.
“The acquisition of Baird Maritime’s event business comes quickly after our acquisition of Tradelink in Malaysia. It underlines our serious commitment to the Southeast Asian region and fits well into our transport and logistics sector business,” said Russell Taylor, CEO, ITE. “We’re looking forward to our continued working relationship with Neil Baird and hope to build upon the undeniable success of these exhibitions.”
In another move, ITE has announced the launch of its transport event brand in Singapore. The new exhibition, “TransAsia,” is planned as the major marketplace for transport services for professionals from across the ASEAN countries. Being focused primarily on cargo transportation services, the TransAsia exhibition will demonstrate the full range of industry solutions, from transport and forwarding services to software and equipment for cargo handling.
Asia’s international and inter-regional trade has soared over the past 25 years. Direct distribution routes from Asia are often well-established, but it remains a dynamic, growing market with new opportunities to develop. TransAsia will take place at the Suntec Centre in Singapore in November 2014.
