Member Article

Mersey Maritime membership continues to flourish

Mersey Maritime has seen its membership numbers surge over the past three months as the Birkenhead trade body welcomes 19 new members.

Large companies, such as Liverpool Football Club, financial services firm KPMG, the law firm Brabners and Speke manufacturer Yuken Europe, have joined together with the Isle of Man Ship Registry.

Meanwhile, a number of SMEs have also signed up including cargo handling and logistics services provider Jenkins Shippings, offshore services provider Jenkins Shipping, offshore services provider - iTec Solutions (UK), Bromborough demolition firm the Beech Group, Warrington recruitment firm Kinetic Maritime and the Runcorn based fuels and lubricants supplier County Oil Group.

A new sponsor in the form of The Environmental Network (TEN) has also come on board. All companies will benefit from Mersey Maritime’s range of business support services and networking opportunities.

Mersey Maritime chief executive Jim Teasdale said the growth in membership numbers reflects the ‘fundamental importance’ of the region’s thriving maritime industry which employs 28,000 people, with a combined turnover of £2.6bn.

“Mersey Maritime represents more than 1,700 businesses of all sizes, from a very broad range of sectors,” he said. “Welcoming new members such as Liverpool FC and Beech Group shows the range of opportunities that exist for businesses of all kinds. No other membership body in the entire North West focuses on the maritime sector like we do.

“This puts us in a unique position to help our members win business, network, secure funding and stay bang up to date with the dynamic maritime sector locally, nationally and internationally. We are especially pleased to welcome small businesses who can benefit from our Maritime Sector Development Programme which is part funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF).”

Mr Teasdale urged firms to ‘act now’ to ensure they can capitalise on opportunities in the maritime sector as it doubles in size on Merseyside over the next decade. He also urged firms to get involved in the International Festival for Business (IFB) where Mersey Maritime is the lead body for the Maritime, Logistics and Energy week.

“Maritime is going places,” he said. “The stellar plans for SuperPort show the scale of ambition and opportunity here including Peel’s Atlantic Gateway and its new £300m Liverpool2 river terminal, offshore wind, the second Mersey bridge and the electric growth of Cammell Laird. We urge firms to get involved and the best place to start is Mersey Maritime.”

Membership of Mersey Maritime is open to all maritime sector and directly associated businesses along with public sector partners, trade associations and related charities. It offers a range of memberships with benefits including the monthly business networking event Face-2-Face, regular decision maker level chairman’s dinners as well as training events, seminars and an annual summit.

Mersey Maritime’s board consists of leaders from across industry who represent some of Merseyside’s largest and most successful maritime businesses including the Bibby Group, Cammell Laird and Peel Ports.

For more details on Mersey Maritime membership email annette.parker@merseymaritime.co.uk, telephone 0151 647 4747 or visit www.merseymaritime.com.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Simon Malia .