Belgium’s growing stature as a maritime nation
It seems reasonable to assume that the bigger a county’s coastline the more active its involvement with maritime transport. The fact that Belgium plays an influential role in this arena at first glance might seem strange, until you look at things more closely. On the surface, Belgium’s reasons to be involved are obvious; being a small country means having to rely heavily on trade. With one of the biggest ports in Europe, this is an important part of the Belgian economy. There’s more to things than simply Belgium protecting its trade interests however.
Maritime transport is one of the least understood transport modes, yet the most vital to the world economy. By its nature it is highly international in scope, and interestingly one of the oldest forms of transport. Roughly 90 % of all goods moved do so via the sea (each year about one tonne is moved for every person on the planet), yet most of this happens without us even knowing about it. That’s another thing about maritime transport: fly an aeroplane and you have to fill in a small mountain of paperwork just to get permission, on a boat there’s almost nowhere you can’t go.
With freedom of this nature (and the inherent scale economies of maritime transport), the unfettered movement of products, energy and raw materials from their production source to point of consumption can be realised. This mobility is the lifeblood of the global economy, and its continuity is the mission of the federal government’s Directorate General Maritime Transport (DGMT) of the Federal Public Service Mobility and Transport. Keeping things moving isn’t the hard part though, but doing so in a way that is safe, secure and sustainable for the environment is where it gets more difficult.
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The Directorate General Maritime Transport of the FPS Mobility and Transport is the responsible authority in context of Belgium’s role as a Port, Coastal and Flag State.
www.mobilit.fgov.be
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