Clyde Maritime Alliance boosts investment cluster in the UK

The Clyde Maritime Alliance (CMA) has been launched, bringing together organizations related to the maritime, engineering, educational, and public sectors. The CMA was created with the aim of boosting and promoting the Clyde River as a maritime and investment cluster in the United Kingdom.

The CMA is composed of operators Bae Systems, Babcock International Group, Dales Marine Services, Ferguson Marine, JFD Limited, Malin Group, and Peel Ports; in addition to the Glasgow Chamber of Commerce and Skills Development Scotland.

According to Peel Ports, "the CMA follows a process that began when companies operating on the Clyde identified a common opportunity: to collaborate to ensure the region has the personnel, skills, and capacity needed to meet current commitments, attract investment, and consolidate its position as one of the most important maritime centers in the UK, as well as to respond to Government priorities, including the Clyde Mission, with a common voice from the sector."

"To clearly understand this opportunity, based on data, companies collaborated with RAND Group to conduct a Clyde Maritime Skills Study," it added.

Furthermore, it was detailed that "the study underscores the magnitude of the Clyde's maritime strengths. Five of the largest maritime employers in the region—Babcock Marine, BAE Systems, Dales Marine Services, Ferguson Marine, and Malin Group—collectively employ almost 8,000 people, a figure close to the number of skilled workers registered when RAND conducted its last comparative analysis of the workforce in Scottish shipyards in 2003. This makes the Clyde's maritime workforce one of the largest concentrations of maritime and naval engineering specialists in the entire United Kingdom, covering structural trades, systems engineering, architecture, and outfitting."

"Building on this evidence base, maritime sector employers collaborated with Skills Development Scotland, the Glasgow Metropolitan Region, local authorities, and vocational training centers to develop the Clyde Maritime Training Program, a coordinated response designed to address current and future staffing needs across the sector," it was indicated.

In this regard, Stuart Patrick, President of the Clyde Maritime Alliance, stated that "this is a significant step forward in how we drive industrial activity on the Clyde River to generate economic benefits for the region. The creation of the Clyde Maritime Alliance is a clear demonstration of our intention: we are ready to work together to drive growth and opportunities for the Clyde and the businesses, people, and communities that depend on it," concluded the CMA's leader.