The inaugural Sea Asia Conference kicked off here Monday, attracting industry players to discuss maritime issues that affect the world.

The issues included how to raise the influence of the Asian ship-owning community, marine insurance, as well as how to enhance maritime research and development.

Singapore's President S.R. Nathan launched the three-day event, and toured the maritime exhibition conjuncted with the conference.

Some 200 exhibitors around the world showed the developments in maritime expertise. The exhibition is expected to attract over 4, 000 visitors, according to the organizers.

The world's shipping fleet is undergoing a major expansion, which will generate opportunities for ancillary services such as ship financing, maritime legal services and marine insurance for the coming years, Raymond Lim, Singapore's Minister for Transport predicted at the event.

To enhance Singapore's value as an international maritime center, he called for Singapore's industry players to focus on maritime education and research and development.

The equivalent of about 40 percent of the world's container fleet tonnage is on order, while the large global order book for new ships amounts to 200 billion U.S. dollars in total, according to Lim.