Maritime transport is a key economic contributor in the EU and vital for facilitating international and regional trade crucial to the European economy. The objective of e-Maritime was to make maritime transport more secure, safe, environmentally friendly, and competitive. To achieve this, e-Maritime reduced complexities hindering stakeholder networking, increased automation of operational processes, and facilitated streaming of synthesised information from disparate sources to aid decision making. The eMar approach encouraged broad participation from the European maritime public, business, and research communities in a knowledge development process that led to the e-Maritime Strategic Framework. Emphasis was placed on iterative stages involving diverse stakeholders.

The development of the e-Maritime Strategic Framework included comprehensive market surveys to identify business drivers and prioritise stakeholder requirements. A thorough stakeholder needs analysis drew on technological and architectural insights from projects such as MarNIS, Freightwise, EFFORTS, Flagship, and SKEMA to define new processes and functionalities. The framework addressed standardisation challenges and tackled legal and organisational inconsistencies, human factors, and change management issues. Integration with systems like SafeSeaNet, e-Freight, e-Customs, National Single Windows, Galileo, and e-Navigation was ensured. Finally, a cost-benefit analysis evaluated new business models and necessary legal adjustments based on e-Maritime services.