The German government announces initiatives to support the maritime economy

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Berlin, December 26 / WAM / The German government announced several initiatives aimed at strengthening the maritime economy, including developing a new European strategy for the maritime transport sector to preserve and expand value chains in Europe.

Christoph Bloss, the government coordinator for the marine economy, pointed to plans to increase investments in marine research, to produce more innovations such as underwater drones or climate-friendly engine systems from Germany.

He stressed that there is great potential for building energy conversion platforms needed to transfer marine energy to land, which could constitute a market worth billions of euros for German shipyards.

The government also intends to extend the scope of the tonnage tax – a special method of calculating the profits of commercial ships in international transport – to include offshore energy vessels, to ensure that more companies in the offshore wind energy industry operate in Germany.

Bloss explained that German ports could become centers for trading more climate-friendly energy sources such as ammonia, methanol, electronic fuels, and hydrogen, adding that, therefore, financial support for the import of hydrogen and its derivatives through German ports is being studied.