The German government announced several initiatives aimed at strengthening the maritime economy, including the development of a new European strategy for the maritime transport sector to preserve and expand value chains in Europe.
Christoph Ploß, Germany's Coordinator for the Maritime Economy and Tourism, pointed to plans to increase investment in maritime research to generate more innovations from Germany, such as underwater drones and climate-friendly propulsion systems.
He stressed that there is significant potential for building energy conversion platforms required to transmit offshore energy to land, which could create a multi-billion-euro market benefiting German shipyards.
The government also intends to expand the scope of the tonnage tax, a special method for calculating profits of commercial vessels engaged in international shipping, to include offshore energy vessels. This aims to ensure that more offshore wind energy companies operate from Germany.
Ploß noted that German ports could become hubs for trading more climate-friendly energy sources such as ammonia, methanol, e-fuels and hydrogen, adding that financial support is therefore being considered for the import of hydrogen and its derivatives through German ports.
