Europe’s Maritime Industrial Base
Shipyards, ports and underwater systems in the new autonomy agenda
Europe’s maritime autonomy is no longer a narrow question of naval procurement, merchant shipping or port throughput. It now depends on whether Europe can retain the industrial capacity to design, build, equip, repair, retrofit and protect complex maritime assets under strategic pressure. Shipyards, naval yards, port equipment suppliers, offshore wind vessels, cable-laying and cable-repair vessels, underwater drones, maritime robotics and strategic ports now form one connected industrial system. This system sits at the intersection of defence, energy security, economic security, critical infrastructure protection and industrial policy. If Europe owns ports, cables, offshore assets and naval requirements but lacks trusted industrial capacity to sustain them, its maritime autonomy remains structurally incomplete.
The report is organised in four sections. The first frames maritime autonomy as an industrial and financial problem, showing why ports, shipyards, specialised vessels, repair capacity and maritime systems have moved into Europe’s strategic agenda. The second maps the industrial base, with attention to shipbuilders, naval yards, equipment suppliers, offshore and cable vessels, port systems and underwater technologies. The third examines how regulation, port policy, decarbonisation, cybersecurity, military mobility and infrastructure protection are turning policy into demand. The final section provides the Defence Finance Monitor judgement on the companies, bottlenecks, revenue pools, procurement dependencies and strategic indicators that will determine whether Europe’s maritime autonomy becomes credible, partial or structurally constrained.