VSM Campaigns for Ramp-up of German Maritime Industry

With a number of evolving maritime business opportunities intermixed with geo-political headwinds, VSM, which represents the interests of the German maritime industry as a whole, launched a campaign aimed at the federal government and the EU to understand and support the tremendous growth potential for all things maritime in Germany.

According to a press notice from VSM, the tasks are enormous: economical and clean merchant ships, plants and ships for offshore renewable energy,  securing raw materials, sustainable energy import infrastructure, a powerful naval fleet for national and alliance defense, security for the protection of critical infrastructure on and under water, among other things.

According to VSM, the maritime industry in Germany must double in size in the next 5-10 years to meet the long list of challenges and opportunities. In particular, VSM notes:

• Shipbuilding price distortion, with "offer prices below production costs despite record demand are a clear indication of market distortions - which have shaped the shipbuilding market for decades."

• Offshore Energy Demands: Offshore energy, particularly in the renewable sector, is growing rapidly globally, and VSM contents that "Europe should not be dependent on third countries, but should create sufficient production capacities of its own, with "moderately higher capital costs are insignificant in view of the electricity generation costs. The advantages of domestic value creation, especially in terms of safety, far outweigh the disadvantages."

• Germany will continue to be an energy importing country. The VSM supports the Seeheimer Kreis's proposal to secure state access to the corresponding transport capacities in order to avoid being blackmailed.

A final point made by VSM is in regrds to subsea mining, as Germany has asked the International Seabed Authority (ISA) for a “precautionary pause” in deep-sea mining and has declared that it will not support any applications for commercial mining of raw materials in the deep sea until further notice. From the point of view of the VSM, the use of raw materials from the sea is unavoidable in order to move away from fossil fuels, but must be conducted to the "highest possible technical sustainability standards."