The International Powered Access Federation (IPAF) announced today that its annual IPAF Asia Conference & Showcase, scheduled to be held in July 2020 in Seoul, South Korea, has been cancelled owing to uncertainty around the global coronavirus outbreak. It is now scheduled to take place in July 2021.

Raymond Wat, IPAF’s Southeast Asia regional general manager said, “This event was highly anticipated, with members looking forward to networking with the Korean MEWP industry delegates. It is held each year to continue developing solutions to known powered access industry issues across Asia. However, the health and welfare of our team and all event attendees must take precedence.

“Based on activities worldwide to address the Covid-19 outbreak and in line with IPAF’s decision to reschedule our international Summit & IAPAs in London in April to October, and other prominent events around the world we decided to take action to postpone the IPAF Asia Conference 2020 to July 2021. The location will still be Seoul, South Korea.

“We also appreciate that there are travel restrictions in place imposed by many of our member companies and/or national governments, while the World Health Organisation advises against travel at this time and for the foreseeable future to help restrict the virus from spreading, so we appreciate that planning for an event even some months away would have involved a great deal of uncertainty for anyone thinking of attending.”

Romina Vanzi, IPAF’s head of regional development stressed that, “South Korea is an important country for IPAF, with a MEWP rental fleet similar in size to that of the UK, machines typically used in construction, manufacturing, technological and processing industries and logistics chains. It’s a natural choice as a host country of the next IPAF Asia Conference & Showcase and we remain committed to bringing the event here in 2021. A date and venue details will be announced as soon as it is confirmed.

“South Korea remains a focus for IPAF in terms of helping to align best practice with global standards, assisting manufacturers and rental companies with technical and safety issues, rolling out operator and manager training widely, and working with regulatory bodies and end users to increase recognition of safety and technical standards and IPAF training. IPAF has also recently appointed Roberto Kim as official representative for South Korea, to support our growing membership in the country.”

Mr Wat added, “Any sponsors who booked to support the IPAF Asia Conference 2020 will have their sponsorship package reserved for IPAF Asia Conference 2021. We apologise for any inconvenience this decision may cause, and hope that you will be able to join IPAF for the rearranged Asia Conference & Showcase 2021.”

Information on cancellations, postponements or changes to all upcoming IPAF events and exhibition appearances, please visit: www.ipaf.org/events