International: Nantes Métropole strengthens its ties with Hamburg
On Tuesday, April 16, 2024, Johanna Rolland, Mayor of Nantes and President of Nantes Métropole, and Peter Tschentscher, Mayor of Hamburg, signed in Hamburg a new strategic partnership aiming to deepen cooperation on seven targeted themes: economy and innovation, health, higher education and research, vocational training, cultural and creative industries, culture, and remembrance policy.
Green capitals of Europe
Both large port cities and “Green Capitals of Europe” since the early 2010s, Nantes Métropole and Hamburg share many similarities and have both made sustainable development and social policy key priorities of their political action. This new partnership continues a long history of Franco-German friendship, initiated in the 2000s and formalized in 2017 with the signing of an initial cooperation framework.
Cooperating on maritime transport decarbonization and renewable energies
The newly signed strategic partnership will enable the two metropolitan areas to strengthen cooperation in the fields of maritime transport and renewable energies.
“This strategic partnership between Nantes Métropole and Hamburg, Germany’s second-largest city and first port, is an opportunity to provide the stakeholders of our metropolitan areas with a stronger framework for exchange and joint work on shared challenges, such as maritime transport, marine energies, the development of health districts, or vocational training in sustainable construction,” said Johanna Rolland, Mayor of Nantes and President of Nantes Métropole.
Both port cities, Nantes and Hamburg share the ambition to decarbonize their maritime transport. In Hamburg, this commitment is reflected by the DLR – Institute of Maritime Energy Systems, which researches and develops innovative solutions for defossilization, emission reduction, and the increased use of renewable energy in the maritime sector. In Nantes, the recently inaugurated MEET2050 (Maritime Economical and Environmental Transition) brings together experts, project leaders, academic and economic stakeholders to drive innovation in the field of decarbonization.
Joint maritime events
The strategic partnership between Nantes Métropole and Hamburg also includes plans for regular exchanges between stakeholders of both cities, as well as cross-participation in several events: the Seanergy marine energy exhibition (Nantes, June 26-28, 2024); Wind for Goods, the international wind-powered shipping event (Saint-Nazaire, June 19-20, 2025); and SMM, the world-leading maritime industry trade fair in Hamburg (September 3-6, 2024), with a shared focus on wind propulsion.
Collaborations planned on renewable energies
The two metropolitan areas intend to strengthen their cooperation on renewable energies, particularly offshore wind. Exchanges are planned between the Erneuerbare Energien Hamburg Cluster, France Hydrogène, and WEAMEC, which brings together academic stakeholders and companies involved in marine renewable energies in the Pays de la Loire region. These exchanges will help identify collaboration opportunities on topics such as hydrogen and port infrastructure.
A delegation including economic partners
Alongside Johanna Rolland, many partners took part in the trip, including Nantes Saint-Nazaire Développement, the Port of Nantes Saint-Nazaire, the Director of ENSA (School of Architecture), maritime economy clusters, Pôle Mer Bretagne Atlantique (representing MEET2050), France Hydrogène, Open-C, and WEAMEC (representing CARGO). The company Johnson Controls, specialized in refrigeration machines and heat pumps and a rising player in the decarbonization market, also joined the delegation: its latest major order, the largest recorded to date, was placed by the city of Hamburg.
