Workshop on Maritime Clusters and Global Challenges

On Thursday, 1 December 2016, the OECD Secretariat kindly invited representatives of OECD and Partner economies as well as interested stakeholders to a workshop on maritime clusters and global challenges.

This event was organised under the auspices of the OECD’s Council Working Party on Shipbuilding (WP6) which is a unique international forum which brings together government representatives as well as industry and union interests to exchange views and conduct economic and policy analysis on all aspects of the shipbuilding sector. This year the WP6 celebrated its 50h anniversary and combined this special event with this workshop.

The workshop on "Maritime Clusters and Global Challenges" aimed to explore the links between shipbuilding and other maritime industries, such as shipping, offshore and marine equipment industry, and sought to find solutions for the challenges which cannot be solved solely by individual economies. The close relationship of various sectors in maritime clusters could contribute positively to a country's social and economic strengths. Sharing best practices and providing an overview on policy actions will help to better understand and overcome difficulties related to national cluster development.

Maritime industries face many challenges, such as persistent supply and demand imbalances, environmental imperatives, employment issues related to the aging of the labour force as well as the safety of workers in the shipbuilding and shipping industries. Discussing these challenges in a holistic way will improve our understanding of the true nature of these issues and the interlinkages between relevant industries. The workshop dealt also with the economic contribution of the maritime industry to the world economy, as well as how the maritime economy contributes to addressing some of the main economic and social challenges, such as climate change, feeding the world population and globalization.

In commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the Working Party 6, this workshop included keynote presentations on the history of the WP6, which recall the activities of the WP6 over the last 50 years and insights on possible future work.

The first session provided an overview of the economic impact of world maritime industries on the world economy. The second session presented challenges faced by maritime clusters and ways to address them. The third session presented different views on the positive effects of collaboration between industries within a maritime cluster. Finally, the fourth session dealt with the development of maritime clusters and the benefits they can create for the national economy.

Documents:

Presentations:

Selected presentations made during the Workshop will be uploaded after the event.

Welcome and Introduction to the Workshop

Presentation and speech by Mr. Wolfgang Hübner, former member of the OECD Secretariat in charge of the WP6 Presentation on the history and objectives of the WP6 over the past 50 years to recall what the WP6 has endeavoured and to discuss prospects for future WP6 activities.

Session 1: The economic impact of world maritime industries and their contribution to addressing the main global economic and social challenges

Presentation by Mr. Jan Hoffmann, Chief, Trade Facilitation Section, Trade Logistics Branch Division on Technology and Logistics, UNCTAD on the role of maritime industries for international trade and the world economy.

Presentation by Ms. Claire Jolly, Head of the Future of the Ocean Economy Project, OECD on the economic impact of world maritime industries.

Presentation by Mr. Andrew P. Goodwin, Associate Director, Oxford Economics on the economic value of the EU shipping industry.

Presentation by Mr. Kan Matsuzaki, Director Shipbuilding-shipbreaking sector, IndustriALL Global Union on the trade unions’ point of view on the main global economic and social challenges in the maritime sector.

Session 2: Main challenges faced by the world maritime industry and policy measures to address them

Presentation by Dr. Martin Stopford, President, Clarkson Research on challenges in the world maritime industry.

Presentation by Mr. Torsten Schramm, President, Maritime Regulatory Affairs of DNV-GL on challenges that a classification society faces in the context of its activities on maritime industries.

Presentation 1 and presentation 2 by Mr. Alfred Ebita, Shipyards association of the Philippines (ShAP) on the Philippines’ shipbuilding industry and the role of ShAP

Session 3: Collaboration between maritime industries

Presentation by Mr. Richard Clayton, Chief Maritime Correspondent, HIS Markit on the positive effect of collaboration between maritime industries on economic development.

Presentation by Mr. Christophe Tytgat, Secretary-General, SEA Europe on the views of the European shipbuilding industry regarding collaboration between maritime industries.

Presentation by Mr. Sauli Eloranta, Head of Innovation & Technology, Rolls-Royce Marine on digitalisation of shipping activities and notably on Rolls-Royce’s project on autonomous vessel traffic. Please see also this movie.

Session 4: Development and benefits of maritime clusters (Presentation and Panel discussion)

Presentations by Ms. Andrea-Rosalinde Hofer, Administrator, OECD on cluster policies and knowledge exchange, with notably a focus on the Rotterdam cluster.

Presentation by Dr. Shin Otsubo, Deputy Director-General for Engineering Affairs, Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, Japan on the Japanese maritime cluster and accompanying policies.

Presentation by Mr. Bjørn Arne Skogstad, Manager, Norwegian Centres of Expertise and Global Centres of Expertise, Innovation Norway on the Norwegian maritime cluster and accompanying policies.

Presentation by Mr. Frédéric Moncany de Saint-Aignan, President, French Maritime Cluster on the French maritime cluster and accompanying policies.