Closing the Loop: Building a Coherent Maritime Ecosystem
On 23 September 2026 in Nice, the final panel discussion of the Green Shipping Day morning program (11:35) will focus on a key question for the maritime sector’s transition: how can innovation, industry, environmental performance, circularity and public policies be better connected at European level?
Entitled “Closing the Loop: Building a Coherent Maritime Ecosystem”, the session will bring together five speakers representing the European maritime industry, research and innovation, environmental certification, offshore marine activities and competitiveness policies.
The environmental transformation of the maritime sector concerns the entire value chain: ship design, construction and repair, equipment, operations at sea, environmental data, skills, financing, regulation, performance monitoring and the end of a vessel’s life. The challenge is to better connect these different dimensions in order to accelerate the transition from innovative projects to solutions that can be effectively deployed across the sector.
Rosanne van Houwelingen, Project Manager Innovation – Maritime & Offshore NL and representative of the Horizon Europe CirclesOfLife project, will open the discussion by addressing collaborative innovation and circularity in the maritime industry. Within the professional organisation representing the Dutch maritime and offshore industry, she works to strengthen cooperation between companies, research organisations and public decision-makers on innovation, skills and sustainability. Within CirclesOfLife, she leads communication and dissemination activities. These issues are addressed in particular through the development of environmental assessment tools for shipyards and passport models designed to support greater circularity in the maritime industry.
Marc Bonazountas, CEO of EPSILON International Ltd and representative of the Horizon Europe EcoShipYard project, will bring a perspective based on several decades of research and innovation applied to the maritime, port and shipbuilding sectors. A civil and environmental engineer, his work focuses in particular on environmental modelling, decision-support tools, life-cycle assessment, the circular economy and decarbonisation. His contribution will explore how scientific knowledge, digital tools and environmental assessment can support the transformation of shipyards and, more broadly, the maritime industry.
Cherif Belgaroui, Program Manager at Green Marine Europe, will bring the perspective of an environmental certification program directly focused on measuring and improving performance. A former merchant navy captain, he now supports shipowners and shipyards through the certification process and contributes to the development of the Green Marine Europe framework. His experience helps connect environmental ambitions with the sector’s operational realities and the need for common, measurable and credible frameworks to monitor progress. He also contributes to the CirclesOfLife project, in which Green Marine Europe is involved in exploring ways to improve environmental performance throughout the vessel life cycle.
Mary Ntamark, Technical Adviser – Environmental Sustainability and Business Development Lead – Africa at the International Marine Contractors Association (IMCA), will broaden the discussion to marine and offshore activities. She leads the association’s environmental sustainability strategy and supports its members in reducing the environmental impact of their operations and transitioning towards a low-carbon economy that is more resilient to climate change. Her experience will provide an opportunity to explore how environmental ambitions can be translated into operational practices across a highly diverse international industry.
Finally, Vincent Guerre, Director of Trade and Competitiveness at SEA Europe, will place these transformations within the broader context of European maritime industrial policy. With more than 17 years of experience within European institutions and industry representation, he now works on trade, competitiveness and regulatory issues for the European association representing shipyards and maritime equipment manufacturers. His contribution will help connect environmental and technological challenges with industrial sovereignty, competitiveness and Europe’s capacity to maintain and develop an innovative maritime industry.
By bringing together these different perspectives, this final panel discussion of the morning will explore the maritime transition through the lens of a more coherent ecosystem, capable of connecting innovation, environmental performance, circularity, industrial policy and operational realities.