Jaap Gebraad
Secretary General
Waterborne Technology Platform
The European waterborne transport sector is dynamic featuring a diverse array of public and private stakeholders. This includes maritime and inland waterway shipowners and operators, shipyards, equipment manufacturers, ports and terminals along with public and private infrastructure and service providers, universities, research institutes and social partners. And all these stakeholders are interdependent.
The sector is critical for Europe’s trade and economy, moving nearly 90% of international trade, with 81% of the external EU trade and 40% of internal EU trade being carried by waterborne transport. The sector is not just crucial for trade; it is also a significant employment driver in the EU, providing 4.2 million direct jobs. Moreover, it contributes EUR 500 billion to the EU’s yearly Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Waterborne transport it characterised by its unique attributes. One of its key features is the diversity of ships and services it offers, coupled with its inherently international character and economy of scale leading to high energy and cost efficiency. The sector plays a significant role towards reinforcing the EU’s resilience in terms of trade, security, defence, energy supply, sustainability, thus being an enabler of the transition towards sustainable energy while safeguarding strategic resilience and a robust supply chain.
The sector is making significant investments to ensure it remains a worldwide frontrunner, embracing and facilitating the green and digital transformation. To effectively meet these targets, the waterborne transport sector must remain competitive. This requires possessing the required human and industrial capacity to foster innovative solutions. The aim of the sector is to become even more sustainable and environmentally friendly, focus on human centric approaches, integrate digital technologies effectively and enhance overall resilience. It is of utmost importance for the sector to uphold this position especially in the face of challenges such as absence of level playing field, regulatory uncertainty and increasing competition from third countries.
For the sake of completeness, the first part of this column is derived from a Joint Declaration, launched in March 2024 by the European associations representing the waterborne transport sector. The declaration summarizes the mission of the sector, as well as the need for an integrated approach.
The need for an integrated approach applies to Research, Development, Innovation (RD&I), and the deployment of innovations, as well. RD&I and its deployment, are key to be able to comply with environmental targets, and to enhance the sustainable competitiveness of the waterborne transport ecosystem. The Waterborne Technology Platform (TP), representing over 120 members from 19 EU Member States and four countries associated to Horizon Europe, provides policy guidance to the EU institutions regarding the RD&I priorities of the sector. Since 2021, the Waterborne TP has been coordinating the private side of the Co-Programmed Partnership on Zero-Emission Waterborne Transport in the framework of Horizon Europe. Establishing a coordinated Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda together with the private and public stakeholders of the sector is a major achievement. The significant amount of investments made by the private sector, on top of the co-funding provided via Horizon Europe, clearly shows the commitment of the sector to develop and deliver solutions for societal challenges.
At the time, recognising the strategic importance of this sector for Europe, and underlining the essential differences with other modes of transport when it concerns solutions for societal challenges, remains key. Often, combining (all) modes of transport under one initiative is considered as more effective. Whilst there are commonalities, and duplication of efforts should be avoided, every segment, even within the waterborne transport sector, has different specificities and requirements. Marinization of technologies, and initial steps to support market deployment within the waterborne transport sector, will remain key. Furthermore, RD&I is not only essential when it concerns developing technologies and concepts, but it will have a major impact on the competitiveness of the sector as well. Only with dedicated initiatives for the entire waterborne ecosystem, supported by both private and public stakeholders, the objectives of sustainability and competitiveness, or sustainable competitiveness can be achieved. Unifying the waterborne transport sector under one initiative already implies including multiple forms of mobility under one roof.