Marine Equipment and Systems: Good order situation ensures growth

               • Order intake up 7.8 percent in 2022

               • Orders continue to increase significantly in 2023

               • Many investements in climate-neutral shipping

               • 1.6 percent more highly qualified employees

Hamburg, 3 July 2023 – Germany's maritime suppliers are very satisfied with the 2022 financial year. They also expect further good business developments in the current year. "The significant increase in orders received last year has now also led to a positive sales trend. Shipowners are investing significantly more again and thus the national and international markets have developed very positively. The bottleneck now is actually the lack of skilled workers to fulfil the orders and deliver them to the customers on time. That is why we are constantly on the lookout for talent and are hiring significantly more in our companies," said Martin Johannsmann, Chairman of the Board of VDMA Marine Equipment and Systems and Managing Director of SKF Marine GmbH, at the annual press conference of the VDMA Marine Equipment and Systems Working Group. "Admittedly, we too are feeling the restraining factors such as persistent inflation, supply chain problems for certain electronic products and geopolitical crises. But the situation has improved significantly compared to the previous year," he added.

Sustainability as a driver of innovation

"The investments of shipowners (operators) are very much aimed at making climate-neutral shipping a reality. In new construction, but especially in the modernisation and retrofitting of the fleet in service, challenging projects are being worked on in the German maritime supply industry," said Martin Johannsmann. This is precisely where the strength of the industry becomes apparent, which consists of large and small maritime machinery and plant manufacturers and often develops and realises innovative components and systems for international clients in cooperation with research institutes and supports them throughout their entire service life. All companies in the industry have recognised the issue of sustainability in the development of their products as an absolutely necessary step towards an environmentally sound future and are putting this into practice.

Sustainability through international rueles

Maritime shipping is already the most environmentally friendly mode of transport. Due to the large volumes transported, it emits 2 to 3 percent of global CO2 emissions. There is great leverage here for the entire shipping industry, which should be implemented worldwide as quickly as possible through international regulations. "As a forward-looking industry, this gives us a clear competitive advantage, as we implement the requirements of the international regulations in intelligent solutions at an early stage and bring them to the market. An example of this is the improvement measures to comply with the Energy Efficiency Existing Ship Index (EEXI)," explains Dr Lars Greitsch, board member of VDMA Marine Equipment and Systems and managing director of Mecklenburger Metallguss GmbH. "It is very important for the external image and the motivation of the employees in one's own company to record and evaluate the successes achieved in the process. In the maritime industrial environment, enormous CO2 savings are possible and also verifiable through innovations for shipping. All companies in the industry can name current examples here," Greitsch adds.

"Efficiency and environmental protection in the maritime environment is achieved by the industry in many areas, for example in the avoidance of marine pollution through new types of sealing elements or in the exploitation of the reconditioning of lubricants," says Martin Johannsmann, "at the same time, we are using the rapidly growing possibilities of digitalisation. Overall, we see a continuous innovation progress for the next 5- 10 years, especially due to the international regulations on maritime sustainability."

The VDMA's efforts to standardise the interfaces between the products of different manufacturers on ships should also be seen against this background. The VDMA standard sheet on MTP (Module Type Package), which is now becoming increasingly widespread, supports the optimisation of shipbuilding and operation.

Recruiting young talent

Employment in the shipbuilding and offshore supply industry rose by a good 1.6 percent last year to a total of 64,000 highly qualified employees. The demand in the companies remains high, especially due to the good order situation and the necessary developments. The recruitment of young people is seen as the future topic of the industry. New ways must be found to recruit suitable employees. This is also about the image of the industry. "We can only achieve our planned growth if we can keep and expand the know-how in the company. We reach young people if we can make them aware of the "meaningful added value" of their work with us," says Lars Greitsch, "which makes medium-sized maritime industrial companies with clearly formulated and lived sustainability goals preferred employers among junior staff."

Key figures on the shipbuilding and offshore supply industry in Germany

Employees: 64,000 employees

Turnover (2022): 10.7 billion euros (2021: 10.3 billion euros)

Export ratio: 80 percent

Significant increase in new orders: For 2022 an average increase of 7.8 percent

Markets:

The German shipbuilding and offshore market directly takes about 20 percent of the products. The rest of Europe confirmed its stable role as an important export market for German suppliers (35 percent of exports). Overall, the industry supplies Germany and Europe with just under half of its products. North America has grown significantly as a market. China and Korea, on the other hand, ordered more cautiously.

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