A national first preceded this year’s Europort in Rotterdam by only a few days: not a single company showed interest in building the Nederwiek 1A wind farm in the North Sea, as tendered by the Dutch government — not even after its planned capacity was reduced to 1 GW.
‘So much for the “roaring twenties”,’ was one of my first thoughts during the opening ceremony of the international maritime event Europort earlier this month. Why? Because of its theme: The Benefits of the Roaring Twenties – A Sea of Opportunities.
The parallel between the 1920s and our own 2020s, one hopes, lies in reaping the benefits of technological progress driven by the preceding Second Industrial Revolution. Also known as the Technological Revolution, this era saw electricity become commonplace. Electric lighting, telephones, and radios grew affordable through mass production – and in Amsterdam, the Atax company operated a fleet of some sixty electric cabs.
Also read: No-one wants to build Dutch offshore wind farm Nederwiek
Electricity takes centre stage
In today’s twenties, electricity has once again taken centre stage – but this time, the focus is on sustainability. Yet, renewable energy, particularly offshore wind, appears to be losing its momentum. The economics of building, operating, and maintaining offshore wind farms simply no longer add up.
In the case of North Sea wind power, much of the problem lies in the slow energy transition among large industrial users. On land, the financial equation has also turned sour – partly due to the success of private solar power. Energy companies are struggling to cope with the influx of electricity into the national grid, especially on sunny days when solar panels produce at full capacity. The first companies to charge consumers for feeding power back into the grid – rather than allowing them to offset it against their bills – have already emerged. Ironically, that offset was the very incentive for installing solar panels in the first place.
By coincidence or not, this month’s offshore theme – introduced by our editor Hengameh Farahpour – aligns perfectly with these developments. Yet, the North Sea’s transformation into a powerhouse of clean energy is not merely a numbers game for governments and investors. It also carries a cost for those who depend on fishing for their livelihoods – some of whom may fear a repeat of what followed the roaring twenties a century ago.
This is editor-in-chief Robin Zander’s editorial accompanying the November 2025 issue.
Also read: SWZ|Maritime’s October 2025 issue: Looking forward
SWZ app and archive
Our digital archive is available to subscribers both online and in our new app (available for Android and Iphone) and they can read the digitial version of our November issue there. Not yet a subscriber? Visit our subscription page.
Also read: SWZ|Maritime’s September 2025 issue: Royal Netherlands Navy in transition
The articles in SWZ|Maritime’s November issue
In addition to the regular sections such as Dutch news, Global news, KNVTS, Book reviews and Mars Report, the articles in the November issue are:
- Two worlds, one transition
- At the crossroads of policy and engineering
- Floating production at sea
- Augmented reality at sea
- Dutch maritime ingenuity raises the bar
- Towards a new defence ecosystem
- Sharing intentions can increase maritime safety
- Steeds kleinere postzegels in de Noordzee voor visserij
- How Lex Keuning’s legacy is shaping today’s research
- CEDA – How maritime and dredging can close the gender gap
- CEDA – Cutting carbon emissions through CCS
Picture: A leading role of the Netherlands in offshore oil and gas has resulted in a leading role in offshore wind (photo Flying Focus, SWZ|Maritime’s November 2025 cover picture).
Also read: SWZ|Maritime’s July/August 2025 issue: Nautics and the biggest nautical event SAIL
