December Letter from the CEO of THMA

Dear Members and Partners,

2016 has certainly turned out to be interesting year! We are often asked what does BREXIT and more recently a Trump presidency mean to us as an industry organisation and to be honest like many other business groups we are still a little perplexed! However  our US partner Liz Burdock, Executive Director from the Business Network for Offshore Wind, has responded eruditely on the US situation and a copy of her thoughts are highlighted in this newsletter.

On a positive note we have had some encouraging news in recent weeks from the Government announcing the next round of competitive auctions to support offshore wind. Triton Knoll and Hornsea Round Two should be in the bidding and we hope that both are successful as these crucial Offshore Wind projects would have a huge impact economically on our region.

Our “Blue Growth” activities continue as we endeavour to revitalise our wider Marine & Maritime industries around the Yorkshire, Humber and Lincolnshire coastal regions. Offshore Renewables is having a transformative impact but other areas of our “Blue Economy” also need focus and support.

Sir Mark Walport the Governments Chief Scientific Officer recent visited the Humber (University of Hull) as part of the “Foresight of the Sea” project and we were able to contribute our thoughts on five major areas including the implications of emerging maritime technologies, new opportunities to extract resource from the sea, long-term challenges and opportunities for the UK’s ports and shipping industry, long-term challenges and opportunities for UK coastal communities and domestic and international governance of the sea and its uses.

We are also currently working with three other fellow Marine & Maritime networks and clusters around the UK to share knowledge, thoughts, raise awareness and identify opportunities… watch this space!

Maritime & Offshore skills play a huge role here and our THMA group Chaired by Mark Ranson is making strides to bring Maritime careers opportunities to the attention of schools and colleges in the region working in partnership with organisations including Sea Vision and Seafarers UK.

This week I met with the Northern Powerhouse Minister Andrew Percy MP in Westminster this to discuss a number of upcoming THMA initiatives which he is keen to support. Meanwhile he thanked us for our ongoing efforts including the growing USA links and sees the input of Team Humber Marine Alliance in the Northern Powerhouse project as very important.

Finally your support is increasingly important to us and we welcome your feedback, thoughts and ideas to make this growing Alliance a relevant, vibrant and inclusive community.

Thank you

Mark O’Reilly
CEO & Chairman