20 May is the European Maritime Day

The Maritime Day was established in 2008 by the European Council, the European Parliament and the European Commission as part of the European Union (EU) Maritime Policy to raise the awareness of the seas and their importance.

This year, the annual event is being held over two days, 16-17 May, at the Lisbon Congress Centre in Portugal. The theme of the event is "blue entrepreneurship, innovation and investment to transform traditional maritime sectors and boost emerging technologies and value chains".

Representing EU and Norwegian Shipowners, ECSA will be represented at the European Maritime Day 2019 by its Secretary-General Martin Dorsman. Mr Dorsman will be speaking in the session on how European shipowners will comply with the IMO Ballast Water Management Convention and discuss port-based ballast water treatment systems as an alternative to installing treatment systems on board of ships.

The European Maritime Day is also the occasion for ECSA to celebrate its memberships' efforts in using innovation and investment to encourage blue growth, through its six strategic priority areas: trade, competitiveness, climate, digitalisation, internal market and human resources.