Marintec China 2025, the world's largest and most influential maritime event of the year, will be held in Shanghai from Dec 2 to 5, according to the organizers.

Featuring new outdoor exhibition halls and covering more than 110,000 square meters of exhibition space, the biennial event is set to reach the largest scale in its four-decade history. More than 2,200 enterprises from 16 countries and regions are expected to participate, said Athena Gong, vice-president of Informa Markets Asia and chairman of the international organizing committee of Marintec China.

With the theme "Innovation and Collaboration for Maritime Sustainability", the event provides a comprehensive platform for dialogue, cooperation, and shaping the future of the maritime industry. To date, the event has successfully staged 21 editions.

A highlight of this year's event will be the Senior Maritime Forum, themed "Smart Navigation, Green Symbiosis, Convergent Innovation", featuring five specialized sessions, covering keynote addresses, shipbuilding and ocean engineering, shipping and ports, marine finance and law, as well as marine equipment and technology, Gong said.

"This year's event comes at a time when new shipbuilding orders are expected to decline after five years of growth, while green transformation is accelerating," said Xing Wenhua, chairman of the Shanghai Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers, who is also chairman of the Chinese organizing committee of Marintec China, at a news conference in Shanghai on Wednesday.

Despite these shifts, China's shipbuilding industry has maintained resilience and competitiveness. In the first half of this year, Chinese shipbuilders accounted for 47.2 percent of completed orders globally, 64 percent of new orders, and 57.6 percent of existing orders, measured in compensated gross tonnage, according to data from the China Association of the National Shipbuilding Industry.

To respond to the industry's green and intelligent transition, this year's edition will debut a themed exhibition area on future energy and continue its featured cruise interiors showcase, the organizers said.