Member Briefing- industry announcements 2022

MEMBER BRIEFING MARITIME INDUSTRY ANNOUNCEMENTS | MARCH 2022

MEMBER BRIEFING

The start of 2022 has seen a series of major announcements relating to the maritime industry from Government and wider partners. This short briefing document for Mersey Maritime members gives a summary of the key details, many of which were made in early March, together with links for further information.

The following areas are covered: National Shipbuilding Strategy Refresh UK SHORE and the Clean Maritime Demonstration Competition #2 Maritime Capability Campaign Office A meeting of the Board of Trade meeting and maritime policy paper Shipbuilding Skills Taskforce Home Shipbuilding Credit Guarantee Scheme These announcements contain a number of opportunities for members and their businesses to be at the forefront of key initiatives and funding options across a range of areas, including UK based shipbuilding and the ongoing drive towards net zero and maritime decarbonisation.

For further information, please follow the links in each section of contact Simon Eardley (simon.eardley@merseymaritime.co.uk) in the Mersey Maritime team who will be pleased to point you in the right direction.

NATIONAL SHIPBUILDING STRATEGY REFRESH The National Shipbuilding Strategy Refresh (NSS) was published on Thursday 10 March 2022 and has been hailed by many as a “major turning point” for the industry, helping put the sector on track to be the world's most competitive maritime nation by 2050.

Announced by the Prime Minister in Merseyside, the NSS contains plans to boost the competitiveness and productivity of UK shipbuilding, which Boris Johnson has identified as one of his major policy priorities.

This includes more than £200m funding for green maritime projects through a new UK Shipping Office for Reducing Emissions, a new government team to open up exporting opportunities worth up to £600 million, and establishing a taskforce to drive new skills and talent into the industry.

The NSS also includes a 30-year, cross-government shipbuilding pipeline of more than 150 new vessels, to provide certainty for yards, and re-introduces the Home Shipbuilding Guarantee Scheme (HSGS), giving firms a government-backed guarantee for loan repayments to reduce financing costs.

According to research by First Marine International, the HSGC could boost orders to UK yards from £60m to more than £400m per annum, an increase of more than 660%.

This forms part of a £4 billion government investment overall over the next three years.

Read the refresh to the National Shipbuilding Strategy Policy paper HERE The National Shipbuilding Office has been established to drive forward this activity. More details about its operations and focus can be found HERE.

MEMBER BRIEFING UK SHORE AND THE CLEAN MARITIME DEMONSTRATION COMPETITION #2 The National Shipbuilding Strategy Refresh included the launch of UK-SHORE, a new dedicated unit within the Department for Transport focused on decarbonising the maritime sector.

The unit will expand the Clean Maritime Demonstration Competition (CMDC), government-funded research and development competition, to a multi-year programme. More details on the CMDC can be found in the next section.

Thousands of ships, cruises and vessels will become greener and cleaner with £206 million investment to support zero emission sailing and skilled maritime jobs, as part of the government’s shipbuilding strategy.

Taking steps to cement the UK’s role as a world leader in shaping the future of transport, the government will create its first office purely dedicated to making maritime greener – pioneering new research and development of technology that could make journeys by sea as green as they were hundreds of years ago.

Known as the UK Shipping Office for Reducing Emissions (UK SHORE), the new unit will be housed in the Department for Transport, building on the success of the UK’s Clean Maritime Demonstration Competition (CMDC) launched last year.

Dedicated to creating a world free from shipping emissions, UK SHORE will implement a comprehensive research and development programme, including a multi-year CMDC, and will work in partnership with industry to tackle supply and demand issues with shipbuilding and help build greener vessels – from cruises to tankers and leisure boats.

UK SHORE will also help develop the infrastructure to enable zero emission technologies and the physical infrastructure needed to power these new-age vessels. The programme will include a multitude of technologies including hydrogen, electric and ammonia, and this funding will place the UK among the leading nations in the development of new and innovative vessels and port infrastructure, supporting its rich maritime industry and coastal communities.

Following the highly successful CMDC round in 2021, the extension of the competition will boost the UK’s position as a world leader in zero emission vessel technologies. Details of the funding will be revealed in the coming months and it will be open to a range of UK innovators – from small businesses to universities. The Autumn Budget 2021 announced a total of £300 million for transport decarbonisation. This £206 million funding confirmation is a significant boost for the critical area of work to deliver on wider net zero ambitions.

Read more about the launch of UK SHORE HERE Read more about the winners/projects from the CMDC round one (September 2021) HERE

MARITIME CAPABILITY CAMPAIGN OFFICE (MCCO)

The International Trade Secretary announced on 10 March 2022 a new exports office to turbocharge the UK’s maritime trade sector as part of a £4 billion investment in shipbuilding, the Maritime Capability Campaign Office (MCCO).

The Maritime Capability Campaign Office will unite the Department’s defence export and civil maritime capabilities in one unit, targeting export opportunities estimated to be worth up to £600 million.

The MCCO will work with industry and the government’s National Shipbuilding Office to line up highquality maritime trade opportunities for UK firms in the maritime sector looking to export worldwide.

It will form the exports and investment arm of the government’s National Shipbuilding Strategy (NSS), announced on 10 March 2022.

The NSS will seek to increase competitiveness and productivity throughout the shipbuilding industry, investing £4 billion over the next three years to create jobs and help level up across the country.

It will include a 30-year cross-government shipbuilding pipeline of more than 150 new vessels, investing over £200 million in a new UK Shipping Office for Reducing Emissions to help fund green research and innovation, and a new Shipbuilding Skills Taskforce to bring the industry together and supply maritime businesses with the qualified workers they need.

Read the Secretary of State’s speech to the Maritime UK Awards (10 March 2022) which covered the launch of the MCCO HERE

MEMBER BRIEFING BOARD OF TRADE MEETING AND POLICY PAPER The most recent meeting of the Board of Trade took place in early March 2022.

Following this meeting, a maritime focused policy paper has been published (the fourth of its kind) which sets out how the UK can deliver the trade benefits of the National Shipbuilding Strategy refresh.

This paper puts forward the Board’s thoughts on: Global trends and the importance of the maritime industry to trade UK strengths and opportunities within the maritime sector How trade and investment solutions can address challenges in the global maritime sector.

As both an island nation and major global trading power, the maritime domain is fundamental to UK prosperity and security. This scoping paper by the Board of Trade highlights the importance of the maritime domain for international trade and explores opportunities to strengthen the UK contribution to the global sector through trade-led approaches. Four main points to draw from this paper are that: 1. The maritime domain is crucial to trade and the global sector itself is growing strongly.

2. As recognised in Maritime 2050, the sector faces interconnected challenges and rapid change.

3. The UK is well-positioned to provide compelling solutions to global maritime challenges.

4. Government and industry must work together with greater urgency to compete internationally.

The Board of Trade is a government body that has existed in various forms for almost 400 years – even before the days of Adam Smith and David Ricardo. Its purpose is to raise awareness of the benefits of international trade, campaign globally for free and fair trade and work with international counterparts to build a consensus for open markets and fight protectionism. It works alongside, but is separate from, the Department for International Trade.

The President of the Board of Trade is the Secretary of State for International Trade, the Rt Hon Anne-Marie Trevelyan MP. The Board is supported by advisers to the Board of Trade, who are drawn from academia, business, and government. They are independent and are appointed on one-year non-remunerated terms.

Read the full report HERE

UK SHIPBUILDING SKILLS TASKFORCE The National Shipbuilding Strategy (NSbS) refresh builds on the commitments of the previous strategy and reaffirms the need for the shipbuilding industry to work together to understand and articulate their future skills needs.

In response, the Department for Education (DfE) will work with the National Shipbuilding Office (NSO) to establish a UK Shipbuilding Skills Taskforce (UKSST). The Taskforce will form a partnership between government, industry, training providers and trade representative bodies. It is anticipated that it will be launched by summer 2022.

The Taskforce will last for 18 months and aims to build a picture of the industry’s skills needs and provide solutions to skills shortages - particularly those related to new and emerging technologies and zero-emissions shipping. Partnering industry experts with training providers, the Taskforce will collect best practice from across the shipbuilding sector to plug skills gaps and promote shipbuilding career opportunities.

More details around the announcement can be found HERE To apply to join the taskforce and find out more about its work, click HERE

MEMBER BRIEFING HOME SHIPBUILDING CREDIT GUARANTEE SCHEME The overall £4 billion investment in maritime announced on 10 March 2022 included an initial £2 million of new funding to set up the Home Shipbuilding Credit Guarantee Scheme (HSCGS), with additional investment - for underwriting the finance of vessel contracts - to be confirmed in due course.

The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) will relaunch a Home Shipbuilding Credit Guarantee Scheme (HSCGS). The scheme will provide government-backed loan guarantees at a market-oriented price in respect of banks lending to UK shipowners buying from UK yards. It will help address a gap in the market for access to finance for shipbuilding in the UK that currently puts UK companies at a disadvantage when bidding against overseas competition. ·Ship buyers (and some yards) report that access to additional (financial) support would enable them to expand and /or increase their output. Some ship buyers have also suggested that access to available finance would enable them to invest in ‘green’ vessel builds. ·Specifically, the HSCGS would provide loan guarantees at a market-oriented price for the purpose of financing the construction, completion, (radical) alteration and refit /repair of ships and mobile offshore installations (MOIs) in UK yards. ·BEIS is aware the HSCGS will not rejuvenate the UK shipbuilding industry alone, but view it as a possible critical component to level the playing field and to allow UK yards to compete with overseas yards effectively - given the domestic instruments that other nations provide to the sector, e.g. France, the Netherlands.

A survey around the scope of the scheme was launched by BEIS earlier in the year and is available for completion with a closing date of 25 March 2022.

Access the survey and supporting background information HERE

@Mersey_Maritime www.linkedin.com/company/695910/admin/ https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCez-3xYy8VeRC41zYbSXcyg