Industry partners join forces to assess the technical, financial and environmental potential of converting existing vessels to zero carbon fuels and technology as part of the transition to a global zero carbon fleet by 2050.
More specifically, American Bureau of Shipping, A.P. Moller – Maersk, MAN Energy Solutions, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, NYK Line, Seaspan Corporation and Total are joining forces through the Mærsk Mc-Kinney Møller Center for Zero Carbon Shipping to assess the technical, financial and environmental potential of converting existing vessels to zero carbon fuels and -technology as part of the transition to a global zero carbon fleet by 2050.
The main purpose of the project is to assess conversion options and de-risk asset investments by analyzing the emission reduction potential as well as techno-economic opportunity of converting vessels currently fueled by fossil-based fuels to zero or neutral carbon fuel solutions. In addition, the project will identify a number of technical modifications of relevance for today’s new buildings to reduce the cost of future conversions, thus minimizing the associated financial risk for ship owners
said the partners.
The project partners will also address various vessel types including container, tankers and bulk carriers and their potential conversion from conventional fuel oil, or integration with more recent fuels such LNG and LPG, to enable pathways with future solutions such as Ammonia or Methanol as well as the application of onboard Carbon Capture and Storage.
For each pathway, the related safety aspects will be analyzed, and the financial assessment will cover items such as conversion, technology and fuel costs as well as associated operating costs, while the environment assessment will, among other things, cover the Green House Gas reduction potential over the lifetime of a vessel.
In order to accelerate the investments in a zero carbon maritime value chain, we have to reduce the risk of stranded assets. With this project, we address that challenge by providing clarity and overview of the operational fuel- and technology options, their associated environmental and financial impact as well as their transition pathways
explained Claus Winter Graugaard, Head of Onboard Vessel Solutions, the Mærsk McKinney Møller Center for Zero Carbon Shipping.
In addition, Georgios Plevrakis, ABS Director, Global Sustainability, mentioned that ”this project will turn the industry’s decarbonization ambitions into a series of actionable steps, a pathway for each vessel type to carbon free operations.”
“As for Ole Graa Jakobsen, Head of Fleet Technology, A.P. Moller – Maersk, he stated that in order to accelerate the transition to carbon-neutral or zero-carbon fuels, ”it is not enough to focus solely on newbuilt dual fuel vessels.”
We must also look into retrofitting existing vessels in our fleet to operate on carbon-neutral or zero-carbon fuels. With our participation in this project, we want to investigate retrofit possibilities for existing vessels enabling dual-fuel operation on either methanol or ammonia as well as conventional fuel oil
Currently, global shipping accounts for around 3% of global carbon emissions, and to achieve the long-term target of decarbonization new fuel types and a systemic change within the industry are necessary.
To accelerate the development of viable technologies a coordinated effort within applied research is needed across the entire supply chain. Industry leaders play a critical role in ensuring that laboratory research is successfully matured to scalable solutions matching the needs of industry. At the same time, new legislation will be required to enable the transition towards decarbonization
the project partners concluded.
