Importance of maritime policy for Austria

Austria has - like other landlocked Member States of the European Union (EU) such as Hungary - significant river port facilities and benefits from sea routes in its trade. Combined transport is therefore important (inland shipping, rail transport). Not only does the Danube, as a feeder river to the Black Sea, play a role as a transport route, but it is also important as an environmental factor (the pollution of the Black Sea is to be impeded).

Austrian enterprises are, among other things, active in the fields of wind technology/energy, monitoring and communication. Austrian companies are also active in the production of marine equipment.

Last but not least, Austria is also affected by climate change. The health of the oceans is therefore also an Austrian concern. Apart from the astonishing marine fauna and flora, which is worth being protected, one must not forget that 70 percent of the oxygen existing in the Earth’s atmosphere are produced by living beings in the seas carrying out photosynthesis (e.g. algae).