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Every year, Europe's ports move roughly three-quarters of all goods that enter or leave the EU, and handle close to 400 million passengers, making them indispensable gateways for trade. On 17 January 2024, the European Parliament adopted a resolution calling on the European Commission to deliver a comprehensive EU ports strategy. In March 2026, the Commission published the EU ports strategy and the EU industrial maritime strategy. The ports strategy is built around five pillars – competitiveness, ...

The 84th session of the Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC 84) of the International Maritime Organization (IMO) will be held in London from 27 April to 1 May 2026. This briefing aims to support the European Parliament delegation to MEPC 84 by providing an overview of the developments since the last MEPC meetings and discussing the key issues at stake, in particular the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions from ships. This document was prepared by the Policy Department for Transformation ...

Directive 2005/44/EC on harmonised river information services (RIS) on inland waterways ('RIS Directive') establishes rules on RIS to ensure the safety, efficiency and environmental protection of inland waterways in the EU. On 26 January 2024, the European Commission put forward a proposal to amend the RIS Directive with a view to addressing certain shortcomings. The amending directive should provide better-quality information, reduce efforts to collect basic information, reduce the need to re-register ...

With the adoption of the European Maritime Safety Agency Regulation on 13 November 2025, following the adoption of four directives earlier in November 2024, the European Union has concluded its maritime safety package. The five legislative acts bring several changes to maritime safety in the EU.

The Arctic's strategic significance has increased substantially: the region is key to the future of global navigation, has abundant natural resources, and is important for security and defence activities. On 4 November 2025, Parliament's Committee on Foreign Affairs (AFET) adopted its report proposing a Parliament recommendation to the Council, European Commission and the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy/Vice-President (HRVP), on the EU's diplomatic strategy ...

Directive 2005/44/EC on harmonised river information services (RIS) establishes rules to ensure the safety, efficiency and environmental protection of inland waterways in the EU. These rules apply to canals, rivers, lakes and ports able to take vessels of between 1 000 and 1 500 tonnes and larger. River information services include geographical, hydrological and administrative data on waterways, data relevant to navigation, instructions in the event of an accident, statistics, customs services, waterway ...

President Donald Trump threatens that the US will take back the Panama Canal, a strategic maritime route for global trade, because of perceived Chinese influence in the Canal Zone. In fact, a Hong Kong-based private company owns two of the canal's five port terminals at strategically important points. The Panama Canal is a key maritime trade route that handles about 40 % of US container traffic and approximately 5 % of world trade.

On 1 June 2023, the European Commission published a proposal seeking to update the directive on investigation of accidents in maritime transport, to take into account changes in the international maritime regulatory environment and technological developments in the maritime sector in recent years. The proposal also seeks to achieve an improved concentration of resources and to address shortages in expertise. Within the European Parliament, the Committee on Transport and Tourism (TRAN) handled the ...

This handbook provides an illustrated overview of the main marine and freshwater species relevant to the EU fisheries and aquaculture sector. For each species, the handbook shows its main biological characteristics, whether it is caught, farmed or both, and by which Member States, along with some significant EU conservation measures. In addition, it indicates the name of the species in Danish, German, Spanish, French, Italian, Dutch, Portuguese and Swedish.

On 1 June 2023, the European Commission presented a legislative package to modernise and reinforce maritime rules on safety and pollution prevention. It contains proposals to revise five legal acts, including the Port State Control Directive (PSCD). The aim is to update them to bring them into line with the requirements of the International Maritime Organization and the regional organisation for port state control, set up under the Paris Memorandum of Understanding (MoU). The proposal refers to the ...