MARITIME UK's Regional Council is ready to formally meet for the first time in Birkenhead next week.

Hosted by Mersey Maritime, the regional council is bringing together a 'cluster' of maritime organisations from across Britain. 

Representatives from shipping, ports, marine and business services will gather at the Maritime Knowledge Hub, formerly known as the Lairdside Maritime Centre to support growth in the sector. 

Chairman of the Maritime UK Regional Council, and chief executive of Mersey Maritime Chris Shirling-Rooke said: “We believe it’s very important to bring the UK’s various regional cluster organisations into Maritime UK, helping foster collaboration and to drive growth.

“Clusters are powerful vehicles to drive growth, and working with universities we’re able to deliver exciting and innovative solutions for the global maritime sector.

“It’s true that we can achieve more together than we do alone, so I’m incredibly excited about what the UK’s clusters can do together with the rest of Maritime UK.”

Plans from Maritime UK set out to bring cluster organisations together in order to deliver a co-ordinated activity in support of nationwide priorities of maritime industries.

Ben Murray, Maritime UK manager, said: “Maritime UK already brings together the key organisations from the four maritime industries, and this initiative reflects the fact that there are a number of regional cluster organisations that should be part of our collective work too.

“Not only does this increase collaboration, and help us to deliver our collective growth ambitions, but it also means that we’re able to respond to the changing devolution landscape to support and benefit from regional programmes of increasingly powerful regional government.”