On Thursday 5 February 2026, as part of the special chair in The Future of Maritime Law, a round table discussion on the reuse of ship parts took place at the offices of Van Traa Advocaten. Jolien Kruit, Professor of The Future of Maritime Law at Erasmus School of Law, looks back on a successful meeting where more than twenty stakeholders came together to share knowledge and work on future-proofing of the maritime sector: “It was an inspiring exchange of ideas with various stakeholders from the maritime industry – together we can achieve more”.
“Together we can achieve more”, is not only an important principle for Kruit, but also a key focus of the chair. Because in order to truly make the maritime sector future-proof, it is important that science and practice work together to shape the future of maritime law, says Kruit: “Lawyers must be involved at an early stage to prevent potential legal issues from being addressed, thereby hindering or delaying innovation and sustainability.”
Major challenges call for a joint approach
The maritime sector faces major challenges in the process of digitisation and decarbonisation. This means that the reuse of ship parts is not the only theme highlighted in this context. Kruit has already spoken with stakeholders about nuclear propulsion for commercial ships, and a third round table on biofuels and biofuel blends will follow.
With various speakers, a wide range of stakeholders and plenty of opportunity for knowledge exchange and discussion, the round table proved to be a successful step in tackling these challenges. "It makes sense to engage in dialogue and think outside the box. Current projects involving the reuse of ship parts are heavily focused on maritime shipping, while there also appear to be opportunities for inland shipping. We now want to look into this further. Inland shipping often receives little attention compared to maritime shipping, despite the important role of the sector. We are proud that the advocacy organisation for inland shipping, the IVR, joined as a sponsor of the chair last week," said Kruit.
Looking to the horizon
Kruit's approach, which focuses on close cooperation with practitioners and an integrated approach to national and international legal and economic factors in the context of decarbonization and digitization of shipping, is clearly taking shape and she is looking ahead: “In the long term, I hope that initiatives such as these round tables will encourage market players to seek out each other and Erasmus School of Law more readily in order to share knowledge and reflect together on potential challenges and opportunities. After all, together we can achieve more.”
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The chair brings together the expertise and support of MSIG Specialty Marine (main sponsor), the Royal Association of Netherlands Shipowners (KVNR), the Dutch Transport Law Association (NVV), JR Shipping, Anchor Insurance, Sedgwick, Van Ameyde Marine, Dutch Forwarders Association FENEX, Dutch P&I, Arntz van Helden, DUPI Underwriting Agency, and IVR. This way academia and practice work together to shape the future of maritime law.
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