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Denmark will be the leading maritime nation in Europe in 2015, according to the new government plan. Photo: Bent Mikkelsen

No. 1 in European shipping by 2015
The Danish Minister for Business Affairs, Bendt Bendtsen, has launched an ambitious plan for the future of The Blue Denmark, the maritime cluster in Denmark.

Denmark is going to be the leading maritime nation in Europe in 2015. The plan was issued after nearly a year of study in the facts and figures of the most globalised business area of all in Denmark. This fact has given the Ministry of Business Affairs a platform for working out a plan for the maritime cluster, but it has also used the tendencies as a lead for all other types of business, which as yet are not as globalised as The Blue Denmark.

The political circles also have taken their share of the pride in The Blue Denmark as it is today. Based upon its success today, The Blue Denmark employs more than 100,000 people within the country. This figure is equivalent to 6 per cent of the privately employed workforce in Denmark. Further, the value of foreign currency gained by The Blue Denmark reached DKK 140 billion, which is a historical high mark.

With prospects of a growth rate of 10–20 per cent per year in the future, The Blue Denmark has the political circles' full attention. No other business gained a similar amount of foreign currency last year.

In a simplified version, the plan for the future is to maintain and support the trend for next year. But a number of actions will be taken in the coming year to support and make The Blue Denmark grow further.

The Blue Denmark, the business environment itself, has already taken action and has an order book of DKK 80 billion and a total shipping capacity of 13 million DWT, or considerably more than the current sailing fleet in DWT.

	The Danish flag will only be hoisted on quality shipping. Photo: Bent Mikkelsen

The three goals
The plan sets up three main goals for the work for The Blue Denmark:

• Denmark will develop into the most attractive place in Europe for international quality shipping.
• The framework for growth, networking and competition is to be strengthened.
• To conduct quality shipping highlighting safety, health and the environment in order to give Denmark a leading position in Europe.

In order to achieve the goals for The Blue Denmark, The Ministry of Business Affairs has in co-operation with the Danish Maritime Authorities set up seven areas which need to be strengthened and improved. They are:

• Better education and more recruitment to institutions of maritime education
• More development and innovation
• Taxation and better finance possibilities for development
• Less administrative burdens and elimination of special Danish rules and regulations
• Promotion of Danish influence and market access
• More focus on quality shipping
• More efficient and service-oriented administration (the Danish Maritime Authorities).

One of the main obstacles for the future growth is the lack of seafarers. This is why the Danish Maritime Authorities (DMA) will put in place programmes to qualify trawler skippers as well as navigators from other EU and OECD countries to be captain on vessels under the Danish flag. Until recently, only Danish citizens were allowed to be captains on Danish vessels.

On the subject of more education, a new institute was established at Syddansk Universitet, South Denmark University. Its name is the Institute for Maritime Innovation, and it will take care of a number of initiatives to develop The Blue Denmark in close cooperation with all other players in the business. Another one is a donation for development from Den Danske Maritime Fond, which generates money from being a shareholder in Danish Ship Finance.

	The Danish flag will only be hoisted on quality shipping. Photo: Bent Mikkelsen

Taxation
The Blue Denmark is generally satisfied with the Danish International Ships Register (DIS) and the tonnage taxation system, but a few hurdles have been highlighted during the year, and these will be negotiated. There are some special problems in connection with income from pool arrangements and cable ships.
The special Danish rules and regulation for surveying and equipment for ships will also be dealt with. 27 special Danish rules have been detected, which will be eliminated shortly.

The elimination of the 27 rules will reduce the burden by DKK 11 million and generate further DKK 20 million by the year 2010.

A number of other Danish rules will not be abolished, but instead brought to the international organisation and an attempt will be made to have them implemented internationally.

On the political scene, Denmark will develop its influence in relevant organisations like the IMO, ILO, WTO and EU. The Ministry has had some interesting experiences with previous negotiations concluding special maritime agreements with selected nations. These have included China and India. The Ministry and the Government find that a specialized task force to promote Danish influence and market access could be one of the instruments to strengthen The Blue Denmark in the future.

Quality Shipping
Even if the daily business is going to be easier, it still has to maintain a high level of quality. Denmark will improve its position on the Paris MOU list, where the national was number 14 in 2004. Denmark has to be on the top of the list to attract shipowners from other nations in search of a quality register. In order to attract foreign owners, it needs to be as easy as possible to register a ship. From 2007, this can be done electronically. The DMA will also offer a key account manager to smaller shipping companies which are not that familiar with the chain of command in the DMA in order to ease the daily work. The DMA will also prepare a “starter package” for foreign owners with FAQs on ship registration and the special Danish rules and regulations.

//Bent Mikkelsen

Latest update 18-10-2006 8:49