The European Commission has revealed a long-awaited decision to create an industrial maritime strategy in order to enhance “the competitiveness, sustainability and resilience of Europe’s maritime manufacturing sector”.
This was reported by Offshore Energy
On September 17, 2024, Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, presented the next College of Commissioners for the period 2024 – 2029.
The mission letters for the Commissioners-designate are centered around competitiveness, sustainability and digitalization.
Regarding waterborne transport, the mission letter for Apostolos Tzitzikostas, Commissioner-designate for sustainable transport and tourism, emphasized the green and digital transition of the waterborne sector as part of the European Green Deal.
“Your task will be to make European transport more competitive, more sustainable and more resistant to future shocks and to ensure transport is safe, accessible and affordable for all EU citizens. Your work will be essential in reaching our 2030 targets as part of the European Green Deal,” von der Leyen said in a mission letter to Tzitzikostas.
In turn, SEA Europe notes that this announcement is significant as it recognizes the crucial role of Europe’s maritime technology industry in delivering sustainable and digitalized assets for shipping, the blue economy (including strategic sectors such as offshore renewable energy), and naval defense. This industry is a cornerstone of Europe’s strategic autonomy and economic resilience. 🌐
SEA Europe emphasizes the importance of each aspect of the Commission’s announcement:
📍𝐀 𝐧𝐞𝐰 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐠𝐲: The European Union must not merely repurpose existing, ineffective tools but should design an innovative approach with new policy solutions, as outlined in SEA Europe’s Manifesto (https://lnkd.in/eH_jxtpA).
📍𝐀𝐧 𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐠𝐲: This strategy should place the shipbuilding supply chain at the heart of the maritime economy.
📍𝐀 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐠𝐲 𝐟𝐨𝐜𝐮𝐬𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐨𝐧 𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐮𝐟𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠: It should prioritize Europe’s manufacturing sector to defend and promote Europe’s industrial interests and capacity amid intense competition from Asia for technology leadership and control over critical supply chains.
SEA Europe also calls for close cooperation between the commissioners responsible for transport, industry, technology, trade, competition and research:
As the representative voice of European shipyards and maritime equipment manufacturers, SEA Europe is committed to collaborating with policymakers, industry stakeholders, and other relevant parties to shape and implement this future industrial maritime strategy, aiming to enhance the competitiveness, sustainability, and resilience of Europe’s maritime sector.
Yuriy Zhukov, founder partner of C-Job Nikolayev LLC, in his commentary to the SEA Europe publication also expressed support for the announced process of developing the EU Industrial Maritime Strategy, and noted that:
- This strategy will pave the way for European leadership in dual digital and green transformation. Together, we can build a new innovative maritime economy based on Industry 4.0/5.0/6.0 Paradigm for our successors.
PU “Ukrainian Maritime Cluster” welcomes the creation of the EU Industrial Maritime Strategy and supports the recommendations provided by SEA Europe.
You can find more information on this and other events following UMC channels:
🔰Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/maritimecluster.ua
🔰LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/company/ukrainian-maritime-cluster-umc-/
🔰Website – https://maritimeukraine.com/ .
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