The Maritime Transport Cluster (MTC) had the pleasure to welcome Members of the European Parliament (MEP), members of the Commission (DG MOVE, DG MARE) as well as stakeholders of sector organisations (like ESPO, ICC North) to a lunch debate hosted by Mr Knut Fleckenstein (MEP). The event took place on 6^th November 2012 in the European Parliament and was attended by 25 participants.

Mr Knut Fleckenstein highlighted the role of maritime transport in the North Sea Region in his welcoming speech. He pointed out which importance the maritime sector plays concerning added value and jobs. The North Sea Region is one of the world’s leading maritime regions, covering the highest density of ports in the European Union, and lies in the centre of the European Economy. In fact 45 % of all maritime cargo handled in the EU is related to the North Sea. Furthermore the North Sea Region and its maritime sector connect the European Economy to global markets, not to forget intra-European markets; by that ensuring Europe’s competitive edge.

After the welcome notes the MTC Policy Paper “Maritime Transport and Future Policies – Perspectives from the North Sea Region” was presented to the participants by Sebastian Doderer (Head of Project Department, Port of Hamburg Marketing). A fruitful and interesting discussion mainly to the topics of “Multimodal Transport” and “Green Maritime Transport”, moderated by Kurt Bodewig (Maritime Ambassador of the EU) followed the presentation.

Topics which were discussed about during the debate:

-          TEN-T: Financing of  public/private infrastructure

-          Public acceptance of transport (emissions, also noise)

-          The role of the EU and Member States

The lunch debate was closed by final remarks of Sebastian Doderer, thanking all participants for the fruitful discussion. Mr Doderer asked the participants to consider the valuable input of the MTC Policy Paper, which tries to bridge the gap between the regional co-operation level, Member States and the EU policy making level. Furthermore he expresses his optimisation that the paper will inspire the audience forming future cohesion and transport policy issues by the valuable and wide range of input the paper delivers.

Downloaded the MTC Policy Paper: http://www.maritimetransportcluster.eu/sites/default/files/MTC-%20Policy%20Paper_0.pdf

About MTC

The MTC Policy Paper “Maritime Transport and Future Policies - Perspectives from the North Sea Region” is a compilation of results generated by the North Sea Region Programme project Maritime Transport Cluster in 2011/12.
The intention of this paper is to provide a coordinated and comprehensive picture of the hot topics for maritime transport in the North Sea Region and to present concrete recommendations for the Members of the European Parliament, the European Commission and the countries in the North Sea Region (EU Member States and Norway).  In this way the paper is intended to act as an inspiration and to contribute to discussions on future EU cohesion and transport policy developments, thereby providing a common North Sea Region voice on these issues.

Visit the MTC Homepage: www.maritimetransportcluster.eu