MARSUR Winds
Maritime Surveillance (MARSUR) Networking in the European Union
The Maritime Surveillance Working Group
On the 30th of June 2011 the European Defence Agency (EDA) wrote history with a live presentation of »Maritime Surveillance (MARSUR) Networking«. 150 senior high level representatives and nearly 300 guests were attending the presentation given by Mr. Pasi Staff, Chairman of Project Team. The MARSUR low cost solution is using existing resources and marks a new era in the European Union. Naval Headquarters linked their national system to a unique designed interface »MEXS« (MARSUR Exchange System). These interfaces enable secured cooperation over the internet. The importance of this successful project cannot be emphasized enough.
Europe’s geography determines the maritime environment as »Road of Economics« for a population of 500 million people. The merchant vessels in the EU represent the world’s largest fleet transporting almost 90% of the Union’s external, and over 40% of its domestic trade. The North Sea is the fourth largest source of oil and gas in the world. The Mediterranean Sea represents only 1% of all ocean area, but carries 16% of all commercial traffic at sea, and 25% of all oil transports. The Armed Forces of EU’s 27 Member States rank second largest after China and before the United States. The EU is a top player in world’s economy and military, while on the other hand the Member States have lost nearly 40% of jobs in the shipbuilding industry, mainly to Asia. Just in China the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) expanded nearly 10% in the first quarter of 2011, while the European GDP was averaging between 1-2%. The ecologic environment is affected on a global scale, which has impact on the fishery and food production in the EU. The Arctic region had a temperature increase of 3° Celsius in the past 50 years, contributing to the shrinking of the Arctic ice pack by 15 to 20%; half of Europe’s wetlands are expected to disappear by 2020 …
(Click on images to enlarge.)
von: Joachim Beckh
