Emma Wilson, who spent four years at Port of Liverpool owner Peel Ports, has joined industry body Mersey Maritime as a senior marketing and events executive. Tony McDonough reports

Industry body Mersey Maritime is stepping up its role as a leading voice in the £46bn UK maritime sector with a key appointment.

Emma Wilson, who spent four years at Port of Liverpool owner Peel Ports, has joined the Birkenhead-based membership and representative organisation as a senior marketing and events executive.

She joined Peel Ports, one of the UK’s biggest port operators, as a digital marketing apprentice and just three years later was promoted to a marketing executive role. During that time she completed a diploma in digital marketing, equivalent to a bachelor’s degree.

While at Peel, Emma was involved in producing content for the web and social media, as well as organising events and overseeing internal communications. She left Peel Ports after four years to work for housing group Regenda.

However, what she describes as the “buzz” of the fast-growing maritime sector proved too hard to resist, hence her arrival at Mersey Maritime, which has hundreds of members and is the leading voice for the £4bn sector in Liverpool city region.

“I have known the team at Mersey Maritime for a number of years and so when the opportunity came up to join them I didn’t hesitate,” said Emma. “Because of my time at Peel I already knew so much about maritime and I was keen to put that knowledge to good use.”

“Maritime is such a diverse sector – it comprises more than 30 sub-sectors that range from shipping to digital to professional services. It is so fast-moving and so much change is happening that I just wanted to be part of it again.”

Mersey Maritime is increasingly a major player on the national stage. It regularly welcomes senior Government and opposition figures to Birkenhead and, earlier this year, it also rolled out the red carpet for HRH The Princess Royal, Patron of Maritime UK.

Chris Shirling-Rooke, chief executive of Mersey Maritime, added: “Emma joins us at an exciting time for Mersey Maritime and the city region and UK maritime sector.

“We have just returned from the COP26 summit where we hosted the opening seminar at the International Maritime Hub in which senior figures discussed issues and opportunities such as the decarbonisation of our industry.

“We have big ambitions for the development of Mersey Maritime, which represents one of Europe’s leading maritime clusters. Emma will be looking at the big picture and will take a leading role in shaping our message over the coming months.”