SMM Hamburg provided a fantastic opportunity to meet new market players across the entire maritime supply chain and introduce them to the CirclesOfLife project.
On Wednesday, September 4th, the city of Rotterdam, in collaboration with Smart Delta Drechtsteden and the Province of Zuid-Holland, hosted a networking dinner focused on the circular maritime economy. The aim of the dinner was bringing together relevant German and Dutch maritime market partners and create new collaborations. Together with Maritime Sisters, BlueCity, NMT, and Maritime Delta, the CirclesOfLife partners played an important role in bringing together relevant circular economy stakeholders and provided valuable insights.
The dinner was held at the Atlantic Hotel. During the starter, Dewi Wesselman from Damen presented the company’s key elements and highlighted the importance of CirclesOfLife’s participation in the event. Paul Riesen from Greenboats then took the stage to showcase their innovative materials and products that contribute to a circular economy. During the main course, a total of four case studies were discussed, two German and two Dutch. The first German case study, developed by Thomas Koch from Atlantec, focused on the role of digital tools in enhancing circularity in the maritime industry. The second, presented by Gijs Streppel from Meyer Werft, explored circular business models within the sector. The discussion revealed that changes in material and component ownership would increase the complexity of shipbuilding.
One of the Dutch case studies, presented by Paul Grizell from AEGIR, focused on the remanufacturing of maritime equipment. During the discussions about remanufacturing, circular thinking gained more traction among the attendees. The final case study, presented by Martin Terpstra from Alewijnse, addressed the reduction of cable usage on ships to conserve scarce materials. This topic sparked enthusiasm among some of the participants, who were keen to contribute their ideas.
On Friday, September 7th, Jorinus Kalis, CirclesOfLife project coordinator at Damen, took the stage to share insights on the CirclesOfLife initiative during a session hosted by Matthias Krause from the Center of Maritime Technologies gGmbH. Some other inspiring highlights from the day’s discussions at the GreenStage included Jon Steinlein’s introduction of the MariLight.Net network, which focuses on promoting innovation in lightweight construction and fostering synergies across the maritime industry. Janine Runde from Meyer Werft highlighted circular initiatives within the cruise ship sector and discussed ideas for a new circular business model in this area. Romain Benoit also presented Green Marine Europe, an environmental certification program for Europe’s maritime industry.
Together with these great partners and networks, we are working towards a more sustainable, circular economy for the maritime industry!
