The new UK government has appointed Mike Kane as its maritime minister, succeeding Lord Byron Davies of Gower.
Kane was appointed parliamentary under-secretary of state for maritime and security at the department for transport on Tuesday.
He was elected as a member of parliament in the UK general election last week, in which the left-leaning Labour Party won a landslide victory over the incumbent Conservative government.
Rhett Hatcher, the CEO of the UK Chamber of Shipping, said: “Having shadowed the maritime brief for most of the last Parliament he brings a wealth of knowledge to the role and is ably placed to hit the ground running.
“There is much to be done across government for the shipping sector.
“Early focus should be on a long-term decarbonisation plan, ensuring our approach to maritime borders helps, rather than hinders, trade and working with the sector to deliver the workforce we need now and in the future.”
Previous Labour shipping ministers have — broadly speaking — had a strong focus on employment issues.
Conservative MPs in the post, incumbent for the past 14 years, have tended to look more at commercial opportunities for the industry.
Maritime UK, the umbrella organisation that promotes the interests of blue-economy businesses including shipping, last week urged newly elected UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer to prioritise the economic prosperity of coastal communities.
“By investing in our country’s most vulnerable regions to build a genuine coastal powerhouse, we can create rewarding career opportunities for local people, drive technological innovation, and attract global trade and investment opportunities,” said Robin Mortimer, chair of Maritime UK.
Chris Shirling-Rooke, Maritime UK’s CEO, highlighted that the maritime industry is worth £116bn ($149bn) to the UK economy and supports over 1.1m jobs.
“There is no time to waste: it is time to get serious about maritime,” Shirling-Rooke said.
In 2022, the UK department for transport allocated £206m for investment in research into and development of clean maritime technologies and job creation as part of the UK shipbuilding strategy.
The vision also included the launch of UK-SHORE, a new dedicated unit within the department for transport that will focus on decarbonising the maritime sector.
The government also launched a new strategy to enlarge the UK’s maritime security strategy to include cyber security and to treat illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing and marine environmental damage as a security threat.
