Introduction

Norwegian maritime industrial cluster is a world leader in developing complex, customized ships and offshore vessels for the global market, particularly for demanding operations, where safety and environment regulations are focused areas [1]. Norwegian ship-owners control the 6th largest fleet in the world, and the international shipping fleet consists of about 1700 vessels. Norway’s share of the world fleet in terms of value is about 6%. Compared to the fact that Norway only has 0.1% of the world’s population it’s obvious that the maritime sector is very important to Norway. Actually the maritime sector accounted for 20% of Norway’s total exports and 40% if we exclude oil and gas. This makes the maritime sector the second most important export sector and amounts to 230 billion NOK.