A group of 34 maritime CEOs and industry leaders joined together to sign a call for action to lead the industry in support of a decarbonized future. The Non-Governmental Organization Global Maritime Forum bought the leaders together from various entities including, AP Moller-Maersk, Amsterdam Trade Bank, Caravel Group, University College London, Lloyd’s Register, Royal Artic Line, Rocky Mountain Institute, and Gaslog.
The maritime group believes that the maritime industry should accelerate innovation to enhance energy efficient and facilitate the transition to zero-carbon fuels and new propulsion systems to achieve complete decarbonization.
Their current goal is to reduce the volume of total greenhouse gas emissions by at least 50% by 2050 supporting the need to meet the temperature goals of the Paris Agreement.
AP Moller- Maersk vice CEO Claus Hemmingsen said:
Global seaborne trade’s transition to a low-carbon future will propel both technological and business model innovation. …The right incentives for accelerated investment into R&D can only come about if we get a global [International Maritime Organization]-based regulation. …We invite stakeholders from the entire maritime spectrum to join us on this new journey.
Next step to achieving emission reductions
The group of leaders stated that emissions reduction should be achieved with the lowest possible cost. Also, significant funding should be provided to speed up the research and development of future technologies.
The future of the maritime industry will be very different than the one we know today. For the important first step, the Global Maritime Forum has begun working with financial institutions, shipowners, Rocky Mountain Institute, and University College London, to develop principles that cover the inclusion of climate alignment and risk considerations in lending decisions.
Possible Future for Maritime Propulsion
General Electric (GE) has already been working on electric and hybrid power generation and propulsion for ships. They offer full electric propulsion and hybrid systems, with the most notable project being the U.S. Navy’s amphibious assault ship USS Makin Island (below image) that contains gas turbine power units and auxiliary electric propulsion.
Simplest solution is the fuel maritime vehicles with– methanol– derived from nuclear and renewable energy sources such as biowaste, carbon and hydrogen extraction from seawater and carbon extraction from air and hydrogen extraction from water.
Marcel