European Elections 2024

Danish Shipping urges candidates and members of the Parliament to focus on, among other things, the green transition of shipping, active trade and industrial policies, and maritime security.

Maritime transport has been crucial for Europe for centuries. As a driver of growth and job creation. As the foundation for trade and cooperation with the rest of the world. A strong Europe is of great importance to businesses, citizens, and the maritime industry. The EU’s common rules, good trade cooperation, and open markets create prosperity. With the upcoming election of a new European Parliament, Danish Shipping’s key tasks for the next five years are green transition and strengthening maritime activities and their
com­pe­ti­ti­ve­ness under the European flag compared to the rest of the world.

From the perspective of Danish Shipping, MEPs should especially focus on the green transition, trade and industrial policies, and security. These are crucial areas for the shipping industry.

Climate and Environment – Green Transition of Shipping

Access to Green Fuels: The EU should lead the green transition of shipping

  1. The key to the green transition of shipping lies in sufficient quantity of alternative fuels and new solutions for energy efficiency. It is largely the role of authorities to contribute to providing sufficient renewable energy sources to produce new green fuels. This is
    crucial to deliver concrete greenhouse gas reductions with the adopted goals in FuelEU Maritime, the adopted fuel standards, and the quo-ta trading system.
  2. The processing time for the development and expansion of renewable energy projects should be reduced. Further development of the EU’s electricity grid infrastructure and
    additional allocation of funds to the European Hydrogen Bank and the EU’s innovation fund should help ensure access to a sufficient quantity of alternative fuels and the transition of the European merchant fleet to new green ships.

CO2 Capture and Storage: Europe should be a European leader in CO2 capture and storage (CCS)

3. The EU should ensure a clear implementation plan for the EU’s storage target of 50 million tons of CO2 by 2030, including port infrastructure for CO2 handling, building new CO2 ships under the European flag, and creating an internal market for maritime
CO2 transport.

Sustainable Ship Recycling: High EU standards as a lever for global ship recycling

4. The EU should pave the way for the high European standards for sustainable ship recycling, as prescribed in the EU Ship Recycling Regulation, to also be applied to EU-approved recycling facilities outside the OECD. The EU should allocate sufficient resources to carry out relevant approvals and control of facili-ties outside the OECD.

Trade Policy

Active Trade and Industrial Policy: Europe should embark on an active European trade and industrial policy

5. The EU should focus on implementing existing trade agreements and forge even closer trade agreements with development assistance. Trade barriers, such as distortive state aid, cargo reservation, and other forms of discriminatory measures, should be reduced.

6. The EU should provide advantageous market access to EU markets for African exports.There should be efforts towards a stronger European presence and closer economic cooperation with the African Union and regional African cooperatives.

7. The EU should actively work towards stronger European dialogue and coordination on geopolitics with the business community. More resources should be allocated to the European External Action Service (EEAS), and the EU should advise and scenario-plan
with the European business community. In addition, the EU should stamp a coordinated approach to geopolitical hotspots such as China and Russia and build stronger ties with countries like the USA, India, and other relevant markets and countries.

Transport and Security

Maritime Safety: The EU should respond to maritime security threats and provide timely maritime security information.

8. EU countries should significantly enhance and coordinate their presence in the Gulf of Guinea and the Red Sea to counter attacks for the sake of crew safety and regional and global trade.

9.The EU should lead the coordination of a common plan for protection against hybrid threats, including critical offshore infrastructure in the EU.

Stronger Defence against Organized Crime in the Maritime Value Chain

10. Following the new Maritime Security Strategy and the Commission’s roadmap to combat organized crime and revision of the EU’s drug strategy, EU cooperation with member states is needed to implement effective measures such as increased container scanning and strengthened international cooperation.

Strengthening Short Sea Shipping: Prioritized EU efforts for increased multimodal integration and more goods at sea

11. The EU should continue to be ambitious in ensuring better interaction between modes of transport and increased use of combined transport solutions with a focus on the green transition. Short sea shipping, with the completion of FuelEU Maritime and the inclusion of shipping under the EU ETS regime, will become a greener transport alternative. Short sea shipping not only significantly contributes to reducing greenhouse gas emissions
but also alleviates road congestion. The EU should prioritize and ensure concrete goals and efforts to shift goods from road to sea in a revision of the EU’s multimodal strategy for sustainable and intelligent mobility.

Read much more about our priorities below: