The meeting consisted of 2 parts: during the first session, topics were put forward with a high collaboration potential; in the second part, a number of topics were selected and discussed, in order to formalize the way of (potential) collaboration.

Topics

• Challenging financial times. How can the maritime and offshore industry stay optimistic in the current challenging environment? How to get collectively through this cycle, are we still going downhill or are we at the bottom and does the future look brighter?

• Offshore in EU is a big market. High potential in offshore wind farms and decommissioning old oil rigs.  Rotterdam is the landlord of a decommissioning zone, Chinese companies can use it as a supply base.

• Dry cargo carriers have had difficulties in the last 2-3 years. There is an overcapacity of bulk carriers. This puts ship owners under pressure, which may be a cause or consequence of speculative ship building practices, which again puts more pressure on the sector. Clearly there is a mismatch of supply and demand.

• The global economy is bad and the oil price is low. This leads to less sufficient bulking. It brings a negative future perspective for suppliers. It is difficult to see the recovery. The question is: how to pinpoint the high-potential area in offshore and shipbuilding? Is it possible to bring a complete solution (on stop shop) to yards, together with owners, banks, engineers and suppliers?

• Now is the time to innovate. Cooperation is needed to largely implement the more representative version of the Energy efficiency Design Index (EEDI) à EEOI. Research is especially needed to reduce energy loss in waves.

• Innovate before it’s too late! It is expected that in 2020, 45% of the capacity is idle. It is important to step up now, and focus on Smart Shipping. Introduce cargo RFID, waterway information systems, in which Hamburg and Rotterdam play exemplifying roles. Build a Shipping IoT/IoS system.

• In the future, efficiency is key. The potential for collaborative platforms between China and the Netherlands is huge. The question is how much individual organizations are willing to invest and promote in such a platform.

• Is there collaboration potential between the banks, and can a Chinese bank invest in land, or Dutch shipbuilders, via this collaboration?

• What do ships look like in the future? What about their sizes, will they increase? Ports should be prepared, to become environmental friendly resources for the local and global societies. The utilization of the coastline should be optimized in all these respects.

• Learn from each other in creating smart ports solutions and logistics hubs. Create value in also stimulating up/downstream logistics.

• Cruise ships have become more and more popular means of transport in China, where people increasingly see the adventure in the trip instead of the destination as well. The market size is now 700K tourists a year; now there are 9 international carriers in China. If the Netherlands would like to jump into this opportunity, Dutch and Chinese partners need to cluster and come with a proposal towards Chinese stakeholders (governments, investors).

• There are many opportunities and huge collaboration potential. Rotterdam remains among the biggest in liquid bulk. There is knowledge to share and co-developments to be done.