Category: Security policy

Maritime safety key topic at the 25th SMM in Hamburg

MS&D 2012 - international conference on maritime security and defence - took place in Hamburg on 4 and 5 September as part of the 25th SMM, shipbuilding, machinery & marine technology, international trade fair. Here is the final report on MS&D 2012 from the perspective of Messe Hamburg and DMI: "The integration of MS&D as a maritime security and defence conference into SMM as the world's leading trade fair for the maritime industry was the right step at the right time," said Bernd Aufderheide, CEO of Hamburg Messe und Congress GmbH, drawing a positive conclusion. Even in the run-up to the conference there had been a great deal of interest from industry and international military delegations. The very well-structured range of topics, which covered technical as well as strategic, economic and political aspects, was a success factor for the tight, one-and-a-half-day conference, he said, adding that another important argument for organising MS&D together with SMM was the expansion of the nomenclature for the world's leading maritime trade fair. "By integrating MS&D, SMM has gained a new, attractive and promising area. This has already proved its worth this first time round," said Aufderheide. Heinz Schulte, Editor-in-Chief at DVV Media / Griephan, event partner together with the German Maritime Institute (DMI), agreed: "It was a great opportunity for us to go alongside the MS&D at the SMM. We should stick to this basic concept of organising the MS&D as part of the SMM. "The approximately 250...

Read More

Under the German flag...?

Actually, you have to be grateful for this farce: The dispute over the planned reflagging of the cruise ship "Deutschland", which became known as the "Traumschiff", is escalating. [...] The captain and large parts of the crew are against the fact that the Malta flag is soon to fly on the last cruise ship to fly the German flag, according to Bild. The shipping company, which has belonged to financial investor Aurelius since its insolvency, wants to save costs. [...] However, the ship will still fly the German flag at least during the Olympic Games in London. "It would have been embarrassing if Federal President Joachim Gauck had officially welcomed German guests on the MS Deutschland under the Maltese flag.

Read More

The Belgian-Dutch naval co-operation - Commentary

Pooling and sharing is the new buzzword when talking about Europe, security and the budget. It should be clear to everyone involved that there will be no more "business as usual" in the sense of sole national provision in the future. It is worth looking at the bigger picture, as there is already some interesting military and security-related cooperation in Europe. Limited budgets and common interests unleash creativity and create new structures in Europe. Could the big players learn from the small ones? Kai Schönfeld is an active naval officer and operator of the blog Sicherheit vernetzt. On Meer Verstehen, Schönfeld writes exclusively about the...

Read More

Why there will be no German aircraft carrier

It comes back every year - the discussion about a German aircraft carrier! Has Germany's security situation and its importance in the world changed to such an extent that a national carrier capability is necessary? Why should Germany invest a lot of money and effort - it takes around 20 years to fully develop a carrier capability - in a capability that is already available in Europe? Incidentally, it is revealing that in such discussions there is usually talk of just one German carrier, as if the proponents already realise that there is no money for more than one ship. Prestige and...

Read More
en_GBEnglish