Maritime transport refers to the waterborne elements of the movement of freight and people. Many issues of quality are common between deep and short sea shipping and increasingly overall logistics, covering all activities required to deliver products from producer to costumer at agreed times and with agreed quality, is a key consideration.

ADVANCES is concernend with quality in maritime transport. Its objective is to respond to the European initiatives of Quality Shipping and Short Sea Shipping by considering the ways in which these aims can be assisted by using improved technology within an attractive commercial framework. Quality in shipping is most frequently related to achieving better safety at sea and much activity is rightly focussed on eliminating sub-standard shipping. The Advances Thematic Network is, however, intended to be a broader arena in which all the relevant actors in the transport chain contribute to an understanding of how to combine the industrial concept of total quality with the IMO and European desire for improved safety at sea.

In the maritime field Europe is known for the development of innovative technology and processes. Now it must integrate and exploit these developments. ADVANCES will seek to assist that process in its application to marine transport, which is regarded as an increasingly important element in sustainable transport systems for the future.