Ports to position Denmark as a global maritime power hub by 2025

A global maritime powerhouse. The Government’s ambition for the growth in the Danish maritime sector by 2025 was clearly stated when Minister for Industry, Business and Growth Brian Mikkelsen presented the new Plan for Growth in the Danish Maritime Sector on 22 January 2018. Denmark is currently in sixth place on the list of the world’s major shipping nations, and the Danish maritime industry ranks seventh on the global list of operator nations.

This high ranking is not an invitation for the sector to rest on its laurels, warns the Minister.

“My express objective is for Denmark’s maritime sector to be positioned even more strongly in the face of global competition by 2025 than it is today, whether in shipping, offshore or the maritime equipment industry. This means that we have to embrace and develop tomorrow’s new maritime technologies and business models, while continually ensuring that Denmark offers competitive framework conditions to ensure the attractiveness in the future of operating a maritime business in Denmark,” he says.

Port of Esbjerg’s Director Ole Ingrisch was part of the Maritime Strategy Team that drew up the recommendations for the Government’s Plan for Growth. He welcomes the finalised plan and sets great store by the fact that seafarers on Danish offshore vessels will benefit from the same taxation scheme as neighbouring countries, and that the registration fee for merchant ships seems set to be abolished.

“The Danish Government has removed a number of barriers to growth while focusing on development. This is obviously welcome, but also incredibly important given that 25% of the value of Danish exports stems from the national maritime sector, which also provides 95,000 jobs,” he says.

Digitisalisation set to be a game changer

According to Brian Mikkelsen, there is also no doubt that the ongoing digitalisation wave is set to be a game changer throughout the global maritime sector. And the Minister for Industry, Business and Growth is calling for Denmark to be active in driving the digital transformation. As the first country in the world, Denmark will be digitalising its shipping register, and will be finding new avenues for better utilisation of public maritime data with a view to developing new business models.

”Ultimately, we might, for example, be able to use vessel positioning data to develop tailored services for ships in transit through Danish territorial waters,” says Brian Mikkelsen, who also explains that a new advisory partnership on digitalisation of the Danish maritime sector will be proposing how Denmark might utilise digitalisation potentials in public-private partnerships to create innovation, improved services and fewer administrative burdens for the industry.

One of the digitalisation initiatives Ole Ingrisch sees as holding great promise is the Government’s plan to place stretches of Danish waters at the disposal of companies and researchers wishing to test new technology and systems in areas such as autonomous shipping.

”We need to invest in maritime technology research, but it is also imperative to create an environment in which such technology can be tested on an ongoing basis. The two aspects go hand in hand,” he says.

The importance of Denmark’s ports going forward

Brian Mikkelsen offers every assurance that the major Danish industrial ports are set to remain as Denmark’s windows onto the world. This is down to factors such as their significance as logistics hubs for a number of diversified industrial activities. A position which holds a great many potentials:

“The ports are the obvious hubs for trade and industry clusters, where businesses right along the maritime value chain stand to benefit from the positive synergies offered by portside co-location in terms of consolidated knowledge and their ability to attract investment and labour,” explains the Minister, who highlights Esbjerg as a textbook example of how a port can power the development of a new market sector.

“The offshore cluster in Southwest Jutland will hopefully be further strengthened by the conclusion of the North Sea Energy Cooperation and the Government’s extension of the Danish International Register of Shipping taxation scheme to seafarers on offshore supply ships. The hope is that these initiatives will mean that we can retain activity in the offshore sector for the benefit of the many businesses operating out of Esbjerg, for example,” he says.

Ole Ingrisch explains that the Port of Esbjerg reports a high level of activity and, like the Danish Government, the Port Director sees excellent potential for future growth in the maritime sector with ports such as Esbjerg’s playing a key role. This means, all things being equal, that the port will need to be enlarged in order to realise the growth potential in Esbjerg.

“Our analyses indicate that we will need to expand the Port of Esbjerg by around 1 million m2 and 1 km extra quay space towards 2030 if we are to keep up with market growth,” he says, and elaborates on the plans:

“The precondition for businesses on the port continuing to grow and develop for the benefit of the entire Southwest Jutland region is that we are able to offer a port infrastructure which, in its standard of quality, facilities and capacity, matches customer demand. Otherwise, they’ll go elsewhere, including outside Denmark.”

The Port of Esbjerg enlarged its East Dock by 250,000 m2 in 2017, and is currently performing an EIA (environmental impact assessment) to investigate the scope for a further enlargement of up to 1 million m2 towards 2030.