Minister hails LJMU's world-leading maritime work

The UK’s maritime minister has hailed LJMU’s “world-leading” work in driving forward education, research and innovation in the sector, as he officially launched the university’s new maritime centre.

Mike Kane MP, the Minister of Maritime, Aviation and Security, visited LJMU’s City Campus to formally open the Global Centre for Maritime Innovation.

The centre brings together LJMU’s maritime expertise and reflects the university’s status as one of the world’s leading academic maritime centres.

Mr Kane described it as a “fantastic, world-leading centre, which is exactly where the UK wants to be in this space”.

Delivering impactful research, education and training

The LJMU Global Centre for Maritime Innovation will provide new opportunities for collaboration and engagement between academics, external partners and the wider industry to deliver impactful research, education and training.

LJMU’s research supports the global maritime industry to innovate and informs the university’s curriculum to ensure graduates are equipped to take leading roles in the sector.

Institutions like this working with government and industry is exactly the way we want to go forward and achieve our mission.

Mike Kane MP, the Minister of Maritime, Aviation and Security

LJMU Vice-Chancellor, Professor Mark Power, said: “It was a great pleasure to welcome Mike Kane to formally launch our Global Centre for Maritime Innovation. The Minister kindly added his support when we established the centre and has been a keen advocate for it and the university on the national stage.

“We established the centre recognising our international standing in maritime excellence and expertise and our contributions to the global maritime industry. Through the centre we can achieve greater joined-up thinking and action by researchers, civic bodies and businesses working together to cover areas including commercial shipping, transport, alternative fuels, vessel design and future skills.”

Impact of the maritime sector in the city region

The maritime industry is a key sector in the Liverpool City Region economy.

LJMU has commissioned an economic impact report to assess the value of the sector to the city region. Early findings from the Centre for Economics and Business Research include:

• Employment of close to 10,000 people in the maritime sector in the city region in 2025, which is growth of more than 10% over the last two years combined.

• Liverpool has significantly outperformed the UK as a whole and exhibited growth that defied economy-wide trends.

• The Port of Liverpool facilitated exports worth £11.5bn in 2024, up from £10.9bn in 2023, generating strong export growth of 6.2% between 2023 and 2024.

• The Port of Liverpool processed imports worth a total £16.9bn in 2024, growing 11.3% from 2023 and significantly outperforming UK-wide import growth of 0.2%

Two centuries of maritime education, research and innovation

LJMU has a long history of maritime teaching, training and research, stretching back to 1825 when it delivered the first formal classes in nautical studies and established the UK’s first Nautical School in 1852.

Today, the university is considered to be one of the leading global maritime institutions and holds a prestigious seat on the executive board of the International Association of Maritime Universities (IAMU).