Keyword: Sea and maritime studies

The results of the 2023 barometer clearly show intensified inflation and the resulting increased interest rate, as well as other international and Finnish economic slowdowns. After two positive years, the barometer for 2023 is clearly negative as a whole. For the year 2024, the barometer, on the other hand, expects a positive development. The annual shipping industry barometer was prepared by the research group of the University of Turku School of Economics under the leadership of assistant professor Tomi Solakivi.

The Sea4Value Smart Terminals project and two newly published articles explore the role of digitalisation in the context of harbour environments and its potential in the transformation of business models in RoPax ports.  

“While listening to the visions on how autonomous vessels are sailing at our seas, I started thinking whether all these fancy ships would navigate towards the ports using the old fairway infrastructure with all those red and green buoys and other sea markings - Shouldn’t also the future fairways be smarter?”

Turku School of Economics (TSE) at the University of Turku has launched a two-year research project aimed at developing green transportation concepts to support the green transition. In the GreenConnect project, potential emission reduction measures in door-to-door transports, including maritime transportation, are examined, carbon dioxide emission calculation models and accuracy are improved, and business potential for green competitive advantage is investigated.

The Eastern Gulf of Finland hosts a variety of human activities as well as sites of cultural, historical and natural values. The geographically small coastal and marine area is rich with major ports, busy waterways, blue economy businesses activities, and a wide variety of leisure activities. Inevitably, environmental challenges cannot be avoided. Therefore, the needs and interests of different actors need to be considered and balanced, natural and cultural values should be preserved, environmental impacts mitigated, and efforts made to improve the state of the environment where needed.

The event focuses especially on the benefits digital tools and solutions can offer for industry end-users. Findings from ECOPRODIGI’s industry cases on digital performance monitoring, optimisation of cargo stowage and shipyard processes will be presented as concrete examples of how digital technologies can be utilised and what kind of advantages they can provide e.g. in terms of:

• reductions in fuel consumption and emissions
• improved utilisation of assets and resources
• more efficient processes and better productivity
• training solutions

Everything you wanted to know about the Baltic Sea is now gathered in one place. Go to MarineFinland.fi to find real-time data from the sea and the best places to visit. Or maybe you want to learn more about marine habitats, different species and changing sea nature? It’s all there.

An international conference on European maritime research was organised at the University of Turku on 24–25 September. In addition to maritime planning and the technology within, the speeches covered oil spill accident response.

The University of Turku is the only academic partner in the international maritime consortium and represents expertise in research. The University of Turku was invited to join a development consortium of international maritime technology leaders which aims at developing the investment process in container ships and creating novel business models.