On 20 September 2016, SEA Europe hosted a highly – attended informal trade meeting with\u00a0the European Commission and 19 Member States to discuss trade obstacles and competitive\u00a0distortions for the European shipbuilding and maritime equipment sector.\u00a0The maritime industry with its complex supply chain in shipbuilding as well as offshore\u00a0production is of great economic and strategic importance all around the world. Hundred\u00a0thousants of high-profile jobs and hundred of billions in value added greatly contribute to the\u00a0prosperity of nations. At the same time, a distinct lack of effective trade rules applicable in the\u00a0shipbuilding sector has made the industry most vulnerable to extremely strong government\u00a0interventions and market distortions in many parts of the world. Europe has abandoned\u00a0shipbuilding subsidies already in the last century and has no protectionist measures of any\u00a0kind in place. It has paid a high price by substantial loss of market share and employment.\u00a0However, by way of specialisation and focus on innovation, the European maritime industry\u00a0has succeeded to champion healthy market segments such as passgerships and other\u00a0specialised non-cargo carrying vessels.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe current collapse of most market segments in standard ship types heats up global\u00a0competition. Many governments around the world react with massive state support, bail-outs\u00a0and protectionist measures such as growing local content requirements. This constitutes\u00a0serious threats to the successful and competitive European maritime enterprises. Policymakers\u00a0in Europe must be highly alert and watchful to safeguard European interests in a level\u00a0playing field\u201d said Reinhard L\u00fcken, Managing Director of SEA Europe\u2019s German member VSM\u00a0and Chairman of SEA Europe\u201ds Market Monitoring and Trade Committee.\u00a0SEA Europe\u2019s Secretary General Christophe Tytgat added: \u201cThe European shipbuilding and\u00a0maritime equipment industry produces a turnover of \u20ac 91 billion and creates more than 900,000\u00a0jobs directly and indirectly. Two-third of the turnover is generated by the European maritimeequipment industry. One-third comes from shipbuilding, repair, maintenance and conversion\u00a0activities in Europe.\u00a0We are very strong in high-tech niche-markets, in the naval industry and with high-tech\u00a0equipment. However, Europe must not be complacent. European shipyards and maritime\u00a0equipment enterprises continue to face serious trade obstacles in Asia or protectionism in the\u00a0USA, Brazil and elsewhere, creating serious distortion of competition for the European\u00a0industry. This situation needs to be addressed and European companies should have a level\u00a0playing field versus their global competitors. Hence, we call upon European decision-makers\u00a0to support our industry in overcoming unjustified trade obstacles and unfair competition, to the\u00a0benefit of European business and the European economy\u201d, Mr. Tytgat added.<\/p>\n
The European Commission acknowledges the existence of market access issues and market distortions for the sector and pointed at a series of tools that can be used to overcome these problems, such as Free Trade Agreements. \u201cOnly in working closely together, Member States, the European Commission and the European industry will be able to make the case.\u201d, a Commission official stressed.\u00a0Concrete cases of market access problems or competitive distortions include massive state support to the shipbuilding industry in South Korea, no-transparency and discrimination to foreign investors in China, Jones Act and other regulatory restrictions in the US, and local content requirement in Brazil. These obstacles hamper both European shipyards and maritime equipment manufacturers.
\n\u201cWe acknowledge that a good partnership between the industry, the European Commission and the Member States to tackle our problems is key to real achievements. Today\u2019s meeting is the start of this exercise and we should certainly continue and maintain this type of meetings.\u201d concluded Christophe Tytgat.<\/p>\n
SEA Europe
\n23 September 2016<\/p>\n
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