News: First Maritime UK Regional Council held

The UK's maritime regions were brought together for the first time last week (30 Jan).

Hosted by Mersey Maritime, the cluster organisation for the Liverpool City Region, representatives from all corners of the UK including the Solent, Cornwall, East of England, the Humber and South Coast gathered at the Maritime Knowledge Hub, itself a product of collaboration between industry, academia and local government.

Maritime UK’s Regional Council has been established to bring together regional maritime cluster organisations from across Britain.

Chris Shirling-Rooke, Chairman of the Maritime UK Regional Council, and CEO of Mersey Maritime, said:

“We believe it’s very important to bring the UK’s various regional cluster organisations into Maritime UK, helping foster collaboration and to drive growth.

“Clusters are powerful vehicles to drive growth, and working with universities we’re able to deliver exciting and innovative solutions for the global maritime sector.

“It’s true that we can achieve more together than we do alone, so I’m incredibly excited about what the UK’s clusters can do together with the rest of Maritime UK.”

The first meeting has already agreed a number of actions, including enhanced communication between clusters and national bodies as well as focus to ensure the individual offer of each cluster is properly communication as part of the UK package when promoting the UK to overseas customers.  

Maritime UK will ensure clusters are involved with national programmes, and that individual clusters and their initiatives are showcased through its promotional channels.

Clusters will be engaged in the Maritime Sector Deal and will seek to identify projects through which to collaborate. 

More information on the cluster development programme will be available soon.