Equity and efficiency considerations for maritime transportation

Key points

The EESC:

• underlines that the green transition of the shipping sector must take into account country-specific, sector-specific and job-specific characteristics in order to maintain Europe's competitive advantages and reduce transition gaps, inequality and the depopulation of some regions;
• advocates that State aid regulations must be carefully reviewed when it comes to the production of ships for European water transportation for the purpose of meeting population needs and tackling labour mobility in remote areas and ensuring sustainable and safe navigation and better coastal monitoring, rather than for the purpose of profitable shipping activities, which can be further developed via market instruments;
• considers that to meet the goal of accelerating the shipping industry's pace of electrification, as set out in EU regulations and the smart shipping agenda, incentives could be provided for the production and roll-out of certain digital and energy-saving technologies for the shipping transportation sector.