ASIA - Asian Exhibition Services (AES) is launching a new event in response to the support for a sustainable transport event to serve the Asian market.
AFT Asia 2013 will be held at BITEC in Bangkok on 7-9 November and is aimed at governments, automotive manufacturers, fleet operators and private vehicle users demanding clean, sustainable transport.
Alternative fuel event specialist AES announced the event, which is endorsed by the Asia-Pacific Sustainable Transport Foundation, will incorporate NGV Bangkok, an internationally endorsed TCEB event launched in 2012, supported by the Ministry of Energy.
A spokesman for the event pointed to recent coverage in UK national newspaper The Guardian that said there has been an ‘explosion of car use has made fast-growing Asian cities the epicentre of global air pollution’. The spokesman added that alternative clean transport is ‘the’ solution, and one that had resulted in governments and automotive manufacturers worldwide investing billions of dollars to provide the technology and infrastructure to meet this requirement.
He also pointed to US President Barack Obama’s recent comments: "If you’re a business that needs to transport goods, I’m challenging you to replace your old fleet with a clean energy fleet that’s not only good for your bottom line, but good for our economy, good for our country and good for our planet."
According to the spokesman, governments in Asia have responded to the urgent need for change. In India there has been a considerable policy shift towards compressed natural gas (CNG) usage in Delhi and other major cities. In Thailand, Malaysia, China, Pakistan, Iran and Indonesia huge advances have also been made in developing vehicle and infrastructure conversions towards natural gas vehicle usage.
Throughout Asia, and in Thailand in particular, there are many alternative fuel vehicle options available besides CNG to include biodiesel, hybrids, liquified petroleum gas, ethanol, hydrogen, fuel cells, methanol and propane.
One of AES’s related exhibitions, NGV Bangkok, took place earlier this year featuring trade visitors from 47 countries for the three-day exhibition.
“The overwhelming message from fleet operators in particular was that alternative fuel transport is the future but in every country and in every city in Asia there are different challenges and different solutions,” said AES MD David Aitken. “At NGV Bangkok 2012 there was a scope of alternative fuel technologies showcased in the event to primarily include NGV but also ethanol, hybrids and LPG applications. It was a natural development for NGV Bangkok to become part of a wider reaching event in direct response to the Asian buyers and vehicle manufacturers.”
AES is launching ASEAN Ceramics 2013, a ceramic technology and materials exhibition in Bangkok on 11-13 September 2013.
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