Metstrade returns to RAI Amsterdam from 17 to 19 November 2026, the world's largest trade only exhibition for marine equipment, materials and systems, and the organiser expects it to be the largest edition it has staged.
RAI Amsterdam is both organiser and venue. The show is powered by ICOMIA, the International Council of Marine Industry Associations, endorsed by SYBAss, the Superyacht Builders Association, and has IBEX, the International BoatBuilders' Exhibition, as strategic partner. The 2026 edition is planned at close to 1,700 exhibitors from around 140 countries.
Metstrade is distinctive in its sector for being business to business end to end, with no consumer day at all. The visitor base is buyers and technical decision makers from boat and yacht builders, refit and repair yards, marinas, equipment distributors and naval architecture and design studios, alongside the supply chains behind propulsion, electrification, composites, coatings, deck hardware, navigation electronics and interior fit out. The organiser puts the 2025 edition at 31,878 total visits from 140 nations, with visitors averaging 1.62 days on site and the number of visiting companies up 4 per cent year on year. Early sign ups for 2026 were at the highest level the organiser has recorded at the close of a previous show.
The 2026 edition is being physically re-cut rather than simply repeated, and the changes follow where the money is. The Superyacht Zone, already the show's largest with 482 exhibitors in 2025, expands across Halls 7 and 8 and gains a connecting flyover corridor between them. The Marina and Yard Zone moves to Hall 9 to sit closer to that superyacht cluster. The Construction Materials Zone grows out of Hall 11 into part of Hall 10.4. The redesign was worked out with ICOMIA, SYBAss and the show's own Exhibition Committee.
Niels Klarenbeek, Director of Metstrade at RAI Amsterdam, confirmed the 1,700 exhibitor target and that this would make it the biggest show to date. Robert van Tol, Executive Director of SYBAss, said of the superyacht contingent: "Nowhere else do we see such a concentrated gathering of superyacht expertise."
Opening hours are 10:00 to 18:00 on the Tuesday and Wednesday and 10:00 to 17:00 on the Thursday, at the RAI Amsterdam site on Europaplein.
Co-located and associated programming includes The Superyacht Forum, which the organiser positions as its senior executive networking event, together with the Boat Builder Awards, the DAME Design Awards and the Next Gen innovation section.
For executives the hall reorganisation is worth reading as a market signal rather than a logistics note. Concentrating superyacht exhibitors and moving the marina and yard trade next to them reflects where margin sits in the industry, and the growth of construction materials space points at the composites and coatings suppliers who benefit whichever end of the market is building.
