CCMI adopted an Own Initiative Opinion on the Maritime Sector almost a year ago in December 2022. Our opinion proposed concrete actions on four dimensions (access to finance, market conditions, employment and skills, R&D).
The sector needs concrete support measures to make sure we don’t lose our capabilities to other global regions. Shipyards outside of the EU are cheaper and dominate merchant shipping with only 5% market share left for Europe. And they are making big advances in higher-technology shipbuilding where Europe still had the advantage. Shipowners have few incentives to build ships in Europe and the overwhelming majority of new orders goes to Asian shipyards. We will not be able to have strategic autonomy in Europe if we dependent on non-European shipyards and marine equipment producers for our shipping industry on which our trade and security depend.
The maritime sector is a strategic sector for the EU. It deserves a dedicated maritime sector industrial strategy. This is crucial for our supply chains, our strategic autonomy and ultimately our sovereignty.
For this debate on the maritime sector, we have invited several distinguished speakers, among them representatives of the European Commission, the maritime industry, shipowners and representatives of the employees. We will hear about the latest developments in the maritime sector, the actions undertaken during the past year and what remains to be done to provide support to this critical and strategic sector.