The First World Congress on Maritime Heritage will chart new ground and create a string of tangible and intangible benefits that flow from this first ever gathering. At the very least the Congress will:

• Promote the interests and value of maritime industries;

• Enhance the attention, visitation, and interests of maritime museums, historic places, and heritage organizations;

• Result in new cross-sector relationships and partnerships;

• Serve as a vehicle for international organizations to better connect communities by demonstrating their historic maritime relationships;

• Illustrate how better understanding our past through the lens of Maritime Heritage will help the world better navigate the future; and

• Reveal heretofore-unknown connections among participants and their past.