ECSA, SEA Europe push for maritime sector’s seat at the table in EU’s green agenda

ECSA European Shipowners and the Shipyards & Maritime Equipment Association of Europe (SEA Europe) have urged the European Commission to include the maritime sector in two of its ‘vital’ strategies aimed at enhancing the competitiveness, sustainability, and resilience of Europe’s transportation industry.

In a March 19, 2025, joint statement, the two entities have called for the commission to integrate the entire maritime sector in its European Industrial Maritime Strategy, focused on strengthening the continent’s maritime technology industry (including shipyards and equipment manufacturers), as well as in the Sustainable Transport Investment Plan (STIP), a framework the commission created to back the production and distribution of environmentally friendly transport fuels.

Both of the organizations have urged the commission to issue “impactful actions” that would also target boosting the EU’s competitiveness within this landscape.

Sotiris Raptis, Secretary General of ECSA European Shipowners, described the two strategies as “a prerequisite for a strong and competitive European maritime industrial cluster.”

“European shipping is a success story. Europe represents 35% of the global fleet against the EU’s 15% share of global GDP. Addressing the widening innovation gap in Europe is the only way to enhance the European industrial base,” he underscored.

Christophe Tytgat, Secretary General of SEA Europe, remarked that Europe was a ‘leader’ in complex ship types and maritime equipment manufacturing but that it lacked “resilience” because of which it is currently more dependent on foreign nations ‘than ideal’.

“An impactful industrial maritime strategy enabling Europe to consolidate its current global leadership, whilst regaining strategic markets and benefiting from emerging segments is crucial for Europe’s commercial and naval maritime manufacturing industry,” he stated.

To summarize, in their joint statement, ECSA and SEA Europe proposed the following actions regulatory bodies could take:

• Reinforce the international competitiveness, sustainability and resilience of Europe’s maritime manufacturing sector (i.e. European shipyards and equipment manufacturers);
• Maintain an internationally competitive shipping sector via a global regulatory and taxation level playing field;
• Support shipyards and equipment providers through financial incentives by encouraging demand through voluntary schemes, low- and zero-emission ships, retrofits and clean technologies;
• Implement binding obligations for the production of clean fuels in line with the objectives of the net zero by 2050 vision via STIP;
• Facilitate access to finance through public and private funding in support of the energy and digital transition.

Regarding the last point specifically, the two organizations shared that EU ETS revenues at European and national levels should be channeled in a better way to back energy transition endeavors and investments within the clean fuels space.

EU’s Clean Industrial Deal, of which the European Industrial Maritime Strategy and STIP are ‘core’ components, has been a long-awaited strategy, envisioned to strengthen competitiveness while decarbonizing the continent’s industries across the board.

The EU finally presented the deal in late February 2025, just shy of five months after it revealed intentions to commit to such an initiative.

The deal builds on the EU’s Green Deal and Net-Zero Industry Act (NZIA), focusing on scaling up renewable energy use, and ensuring the shift to a climate-neutral economy by 2050.

However, a number of maritime industry stakeholders have presented concerns regarding the deal. While ECSA welcomed what was hailed as ‘a new dawn’ for Europe’s industries, the organization still spotlighted that more work needed to be done to scale up the continent’s efforts concerning green fuel production.

Parallelly, the Clean Maritime Fuels Platform, an industry initiative that aims to improve communication between the shipping sector and fuel producers, drew attention in February 2025 to the fact that investment and infrastructure gaps represented a ‘major’ stumbling block for Europe’s decarbonization ambitions, or, to be precise, within the low-carbon fuels landscape, in particular.

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