From the magazine – Since the Netherlands, like Finland, is still a country with “a strong innovative shipbuilding industry” Finland seeks partnerships with the Dutch maritime industry for developing renewable maritime solutions in particular. Here, of course, the first thing to consider is the Dutch offshore wind industry, but cooperation in other areas, such as defence and naval construction, is also expressly sought by Finnish government and maritime industry.
In every issue of SWZ|Maritime, SWZ|Maritime’s editor-in-chief Antoon Oosting writes an opinion piece under the heading “Markets” about the maritime industry or a particular sector within it. In the December 2024 issue, he discusses Finland’s trade mission to the Netherlands and its quest for partners in the maritime manufacturing industry. The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of the publisher, the SWZ Foundation, the KNVTS, or other editors.
This was the message of a trade mission to the Netherlands that took place 7 to 10 October. A mission led by the Minister for Economic Affairs Wille Rydman with in his company a dozen representatives of companies in the Finnish shipbuilding industry, including the secretary general of interest group Finnish Naval Capabilities.
During a seminar at the residence of the Ambassador of Finland to the Netherlands, they met with key personalities from the Dutch maritime industry such as Jeroen de Graaf, director of Netherlands Maritime Technology and the IRO (the trade association for Dutch suppliers in the offshore energy industry), the envoy of the maritime manufacturing industry to the government Kees van der Staaij, director of the National Maritime Manufacturing Agency Dimitri van Rijn, and Bas Büchner, parting director of MARIN, the globally recognised Dutch institute for maritime research.
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Many shared interests
‘It is my great pleasure to visit the Netherlands with a Finnish business delegation offering advanced solutions and unique ecosystem collaboration opportunities. The economic and political ties between the Netherlands and Finland are close and we have many shared interests,’ Rydman said in his opening speech at the seminar.
The Finns’ interest has been triggered by recent political developments in the Netherlands to again strengthen the maritime manufacturing industry, including with government support, after years of sidelining the industry. ‘The emphasis is increasingly on strengthening the autonomy of Dutch maritime industry and European supply chains, in an increasingly competitive and unstable international environment. At the same time, the energy transition and cross-cutting digitalisation are real game-changers for the industry,’ added Rydman.
Taking all this into account, he believes the Dutch and Finnish marine ecosystems are well prepared to deepen cooperation and succeed together. Rydman: ‘Finland is a global frontrunner in smart solutions, zero-emission technology as well as Arctic maritime expertise. We have deep roots in the marine sector, and growing companies with much expertise along the value chain.’
The Minister hopes the visit allows Finnish and Dutch companies to accelerate joint business efforts and RDI (Research, Development and Innovation), with the aim of building long-term partnerships in maritime and port technology sectors.
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Everything is geopolitical
The interest of the Finns in a stronger cooperation with partners in the West has increased further with the war unleashed by Russian despot Putin against Ukraine, Minister Rydman explains in an exclusive interview with SWZ|Maritime’s editor-in-chief. ‘Currently, everything is geopolitical. Russia’s full-scale war has made Finland and Sweden join NATO entailing major political changes in our countries. The effects are all-encompassing, not only impacting politics, but also our economy and defence.’
After World War II, Finland had been condemned to strict neutrality by Soviet dictator Stalin, and Finnish industry was notably linked to the neighbouring Russian economy.
‘With the fall of the Berlin Wall and the end of the Cold War, many European countries thought that defence and a navy would no longer be needed. Not in Finland. We have maintained a strong defence force and invested in our military equipment and systems, including our navy. In parallel with this, we increased our cooperation with NATO from the mid-90s and our recent NATO membership can be seen as a continuation to this development,’ Rydman says.
According to Rydman, it was an illusion to think that with globalisation, western values and laws would also expand globally. ‘This wasn’t the case. China and Russia want to maintain their status as superpowers.’
During the Cold War, the Finnish shipbuilding industry was providing the Russians with a good number of icebreakers. Today, Russia has the world’s largest icebreaker fleet. With the increased geopolitical importance of the Arctic region for shipping lanes, mineral resources and other raw materials, these icebreakers are now even more important than in the past. Rydman: ‘This is a very unhealthy situation. Being dependent on Russia makes us less resilient in an increasingly hostile world.’
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Very interesting countries
Rydman signals that those nations that succeeded in maintaining their shipbuilding capabilities and still have a maritime value chain are now very interesting countries. In the past decades, the maritime sector was not in the political spotlight in many countries, but especially since the outbreak of the war between Russia and Ukraine, people are again seeing its importance, Rydman notes.
He is glad that also in European politics, the maritime industry is designated as one of the strategic focus areas again. ‘This offers huge potential to nations that cherish similar values like our nations. There’s a great untouched potential between our countries when it comes to the maritime industry.’
According to Rydman, the economic and political competition between western and authoritarian countries is growing. ‘In the big picture, we – the Netherlands and Finland – are on the same side. This also counts for the US and Canada. Recently, we have deepened our cooperation with the US and Canada to be able to develop an answer to the threats of Russia and China in the Arctic. Therefore, we agreed on mutual beneficial cooperation between Finland and Canada,’ Rydman states.
On 24 November, the US, Canada and Finland announced a new partnership agreement to build new polar icebreakers, the so-called ICE Pact.
Also read: SWZ|Maritime’s December 2023 issue: Finland leads the way in shipbuilding
Russian businessmen
The background of this pact is that Finland owns the most advanced knowledge and technology for developing and building icebreakers, while both the US and Canada are in strong need of renewing their fleet of icebreakers for their Arctic coast guard ships.
Just a year ago, Canadian shipbuilder Davie announced it had finalised the acquisition of the assets of Finland’s Helsinki Shipyard Oy (HSO). HSO is one of the three biggest shipyards in Finland and has built a great reputation in building icebreakers. The iconic yard in downtown Helsinki fell into the hands of the Russian state-owned United Shipbuilding Company in 2011, but due to sanctions, the yard ran into troubles. In 2019, it was sold to Russian private investors. The government also banned the yard from building ships for the Finnish navy.
‘We wanted to get rid of the Russian businessmen and then the Canadians came into the picture. A transactional agreement was signed in which Davie buys the yard. This now connects the Finnish knowhow for building icebreakers, the extensive network of ship designers and other subcontractors with Davie and through them to Canada and North America more broadly,’ Rydman says.
The ICE Pact agreement helps to quickly meet the strong demand for icebreakers in the USA and in Canada. It also facilitates finding solutions to demands for a high degree of domestic production of icebreakers.
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Renewable industry
Regarding the Dutch maritime sector, the Finns are especially interested in the way the Netherlands developed
its renewable industry. Like all the other EU member states, the Finns are working on creating a net-zero CO2 economy and society. Developing and constructing offshore wind farms, especially in the Gulf of Bothnia between Finland
and Sweden, is part of the solution of Finland’s energy transition policy.
‘As the Netherlands have heavily invested in the maritime renewables industry, some Finnish companies are very much interested in how the Dutch did this,’ says Rydman.
Also read: German shipbuilding sector optimistic, but vulnerable
Naval cooperation
Areas of deeper cooperation could be the defence and naval sector. Rydman: ‘Finland has newly entered NATO, and we must designate our role in the alliance. In this process, we still have to discover all the possibilities of cooperation. Our overall approach to security is that we must protect ourselves against an unpredictable neighbour.’
In view of this, Finland, together with Sweden, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway and Denmark, launched the Northern Naval Shipbuilding Cooperation (NNSC) in 2022. In 2023, the six countries explored various options for extensive cooperation and established working groups on the first three selected topics of interest: seabed security, modular design and innovative propulsion.
During the Cold War, the Soviet Union did not allow Finland to invest in big navy ships like submarines. ‘So, to maintain our independence, we were pushed to develop other, especially high-tech technologies to protect our borders and coasts against Russian involvement,’ Rydman says.
And they have a strong instrument at their disposal, because already during the Cold War, they developed a comprehensive defence policy that created a very resilient society. Rydman: ‘We don’t have many resources, so we must use them very efficiently. That is something the Swedes are now studying a lot. And other NATO member states, like the Netherlands, can perhaps learn something from this Finnish doctrine.’
Respond to this article by sending an e-mail to Antoon Oosting, editor-in-chief and author of this article: swz.rotterdam@knvts.nl.
Cartoon by Hans de Wilde/SWZ|Maritime.
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