Oceans are overflowed with resources for research
If science can improve maritime transport in the EU, the opposite is also true: our seas and oceans are overflowed with resources with great potential for research.
The role of maritime transport in the EU is considerable. Statistics speak for themselves: almost 90% of the EU external freight trade is seaborne, short sea shipping represents 40% of intra-EU exchanges in terms of ton-kilometers, and over 400 million passengers embark and disembark in European ports every year.
However the sector is also faced with serious challenges. The Costa Concordia disaster in 2012 proved how safety should be a key focus of policy-makers, businesses and engineers over the years to come, while minimizing the environmental impact of maritime transport is high on the EU list of priorities.
EU researchers – notably those supported under FP7 and Horizon 2020 – will have a key role to play in taking on these challenges. But if science can improve maritime transport in the EU, the opposite is also true: our seas and oceans are overflowed with resources that hold potential for a large spectrum of sectors. These include health and medicine, climate change observation, research around biological evolution, energy or even cosmetics. To make the most of this potential, scientists need efficient maritime transport solutions equipped with groundbreaking technologies.
Source: European Commission
