The Daily View: Mobilising the troops
“WE ARE now in the most difficult situation in Europe since the end of the Second World War,” Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen explained as she and the rest of the EU leaders grappled with the thorny question of how to defend against Russian grey zone aggression.
You may not consider that to be a question for mainstream shipping to contend with, but you would be wrong.
As the great and the good gathered in Cyprus on Monday for the latest iteration of shipping’s rolling conference agenda, they found themselves on a war footing.
European transport commissioner Apostolos Tzitzikostas opened Maritime Cyprus with the warning that Europe is being tested by hostile actors and the maritime sector needs to be ready for conflict.
Well that’s one way to get the attention of a rowdy conference hall.
Protecting transport networks and ensuring troop mobility across the continent is a “non-negotiable” warned Tzitzikostas.
Military mobility requires upgrading infrastructure to dual-use standards, serving both military and civilian needs.
Deeper berths, larger docks and better logistics comes with commercial upsides, but this is now a military imperative that requires Europe’s ports to be equipped to load oversized equipment, have more storage, and be connected to road and rail.
It also requires port ownership and management to “remain secure in times of crisis”. The precise details of what that means will be made clear later this year when the comprehensive Military Mobility Package finally emerges.
This is not an EU development that has been receiving a huge amount of attention from the industry. But when the EU transport commissioner heads to the heart of the Mediterranean maritime sector and warns that “foreign influence at EU ports is a real concern”, the Cosco delegates over from Athens were presumably listening.
Everyone else should be as well.
It’s not just the port sector that needs to be paying attention here. Transport of military cargo, shipbuilding and third-country seafarers are all on the agenda as security starts to trump all the usual regulatory concerns of the day.
Will Denmark’s maritime authority decide to take a lead from Emmanuel Macron and start detaining and disrupting shadow fleet shipping? Probably not. Given the rumours flying about potential Russian reprisals, the Nordic approach is likely less aggressive. But European shipping is not going to be able to avoid the fact that security and resilience are now questions of national defence that will require them to adapt, whether they like it or not.
As Friedrich Merz, the German chancellor, put it, when it comes to Russia, “we are not at war, but we are no longer at peace either”.
Richard Meade,
Editor-in-chief, Lloyd’s List
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