The members of the European Tugowners Association (ETA) met again in Türkiye for its 63rd Annual Meeting. This year, the event was held in Istanbul and was kindly hosted by the three ETA local members Med Marine Holding A.Ş. Sanmar Shipyards and UZMAR. This year´s Annual Meeting was the biggest in the history of the Association, with more than 170 attendees who participated in the networking events, Annual General Meeting and Conference.
The Annual General Meeting welcomed OSM Thome as a new full member. The Finnish company operates a fleet of three tugboats in the Port of Kilpilahti.
With the addition of OSM Thome, ETA now has 85 full members. Furthermore, the Annual General Meeting reviewed the work carried out by the Secretariat over the previous 12 months, which focused on maintaining a constructive dialogue with the European institutions and contributing to discussions on the European Port and Industrial Maritime Strategies, as well as the extension of the Monitoring, Reporting and Verification (MRV) Regulation to offshore vessels.In this edition, the ETA Conference had as theme ‘Towage at the Frontline: Geopolitics, Military Mobility and Europe’s Maritime Security’ and delved into the EU’s evolving framework to facilitate the rapid and secure movement of military personnel and assets across Member States with particular attention to the implications for ports and harbour towage.
The speakers and attendants debated on the readiness of European states to face military crisis and the role of port towage as key factors that can improve the resilience and security of European harbours during a military conflict. Geoffrey Till (King’s College London) and Harry Fullerton (SixFigureGrid) examined the changing nature of maritime security and modern warfare, highlighting the need for integrated approaches to address emerging threats affecting European supply chains and port infrastructure.
Christian Bueger (University of Copenhagen) discussed the current European efforts to enhance the protection of Critical Maritime Infrastructure, while Kaisa Kuukasjärvi (Finnish Ministry of Transport and Communications) presented Finland’s initiatives to improve transport resilience and underlined the strategic importance of towage services. Edwin Lampert (Riviera Maritime Media Ltd) concluded by analysing the potential implications of the EU’s regulation on Military Mobility for dual-use towage services. Furthermore, the session was complemented with a presentation of the findings and achievements of the European project GREENPORT Alliances, which aims to reduce emissions from port services through the development of new educational programmes.
ETA Chairman, Arjen van Dijk said: ‘Last week we held our 63rd Annual Meeting of the European Tugowners Association in Istanbul, with this year’s central theme “Towage at the frontline, geopolitics, military mobility and Europe’s maritime security.”
It was a great event with many valuable insights shared, good discussions around the strategic role of our sector in providing maritime safety and keeping ports operating during these geopolitically complex times. As always, it was also a welcome opportunity to reconnect with peers from across the industry. A special thanks to our co-hosts Med Marine, Sanmar and Uzmar for welcoming us and supporting this annual meeting’.
The ETA Secretariat wants to extend its deepest gratitude to all the sponsors for their generous contribution, and a big thanks to the host companies, Med Marine, Sanmar and Uzmar, for their very warm and generous assistance, which made this 63rd Annual Meeting another great success and the biggest in ETA´s history.
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