For Logistics Events, the Show Must Go On

Meeting organizers say they are following local health mandates and taking additional steps to ensure the safety of attendees. The NRF and TPM events will require proof of vaccination and participants to wear masks indoors, and both groups will provide access to Covid-19 tests at the venues.

Large numbers of annual meetings and trade shows have been canceled or gone virtual since the start of the pandemic in March 2020. Organizers started setting up this year’s return to in-person shows before the Omicron variant triggered a surge in Covid-19 cases that began late last year.

CES, the large annual tech conference, opened in Las Vegas this week. But it is closing on Friday, one day early, as an “additional safety measure,” according to the Consumer Technology Association, producer of the event formerly known as the Consumer Electronics Show.

Fewer than 11% of the show’s exhibitors canceled plans to attend in-person, CTA said. About 2,200 have committed to being there, and the group expects between 40,000 to 50,000 attendees, although variables including weather and canceled flights may affect attendance.

The NRF is providing Covid-19 rapid tests to attendees and said PCR tests will be available on-site during its show, set for Jan. 16-18 at New York’s Jacob K. Javits Convention Center. Meanwhile, TPM attendees must provide a negative PCR test taken within 72 hours of attending the event, as required by local health rules.

“We’re committed to creating the safest environment we can,” NRF Chief Executive

Matthew Shay

said this week.

The NRF is monitoring the health situation and coordinating with New York state and local authorities, Mr. Shay said, and is working with exhibitors as companies evaluate their presence and staffing at the show. Registered attendees will have access to some event sessions on demand.

“At the moment, the overwhelming sentiment from our members, exhibitors, retailers, partners and attendees is that we should go forward with the show,” Mr. Shay said. “As we move from pandemic to endemic…into a new environment in which we say life can and should go on, there’s going to be friction, it’s going to be messy.”

TPM, which begins on Feb. 27, usually attracts more than 2,500 attendees, about 80% of whom come from North America with most of the remainder split about equally between Asia and Europe.

Shippers, carriers and intermediaries have traditionally used the conference to get a sense of contract prices for the coming shipping season, said Peter Tirschwell, a vice president in the maritime and trade division of IHS Markit.

Mr. Tirschwell said relationship building in the shipping industry has become more important as a result of major supply-chain disruptions last year that included backups of dozens of container ships at a time off the Southern California ports, the key gateway for U.S. imports from Asia.

Mr. Tirschwell declined to say how many attendees have signed up for the conference. He said that registrations so far are roughly on a par with pre-pandemic years. More than 90 sponsors have signed up also, which is about normal, he said.

”All of that tells me that there is a strong desire on the part of this industry to get together in-person after everything that we’ve all been through and are continuing to go through,” he said.

The American Association of Port Authorities on Wednesday said it has rescheduled a trade seminar set to take place in Tampa, Fla., at the end of this month to June, citing the recent increase in Covid-19 cases. AAPA still plans to hold its legislative summit in-person in Washington, D.C., at the end of March.

The annual Modex supply-chain conference is set to take place in-person in Atlanta from March 28-31. Participants are required to follow a city mandate to wear masks indoors and MHI, the material-handling and logistics trade group that organizes the event, said it would set up enhanced safety protocols.

“MHI is currently strongly recommending that attendees travel to the event only after they are fully vaccinated and that they have a negative Covid test result within 24 hours of attending the event,” the group said.

This year’s exhibition show floor is 22% larger than at Modex’s 2020 event, which took place as the pandemic first hit the U.S., and is sold out, MHI said. Registered attendees will be able to access online content after the show.

Write to Jennifer Smith at [email protected] and Paul Berger at [email protected]