SINTEF Ocean and the Global Centre for Maritime Decarbonisation (GCMD) have signed agreements for joint efforts in greening the maritime sector.
In a statement, SINTEF Ocean announced that it will join GCMD as a knowledge partner, while GCMD joins the SINTEF Ocean-managed R&D program FME MarTrans.
FME Maritime Energy Transition (MarTrans) is an 8-year collaborative project with 65 partners from the maritime industry and research environment.
According to the SINTEF Ocean statement, with funding from the Research Council of Norway and the industrial partners this will be one of the world’s largest maritime research programs when it kicks off in January 2025.
Norwegian shipowners are heavily involved, and a total of 18 shipping companies with around 450 ships in operation participating in the centre.
FME MarTrans will focus on four main challenges:
- Environmentally friendly fuel will be expensive and scarce. Consequently, consumption must be drastically reduced through improved energy-efficiency.
- In order to be able to use the new energy carriers in a safe and efficient way, the energy systems on board must be further developed.
- Making green fuels available requires the development of supply chains and new port infrastructure.
- A sustainable transition requires new technology to be supported with knowledge in business models, environmental impact, regulations and energy system integration.
Recently, GCMD successfully conducted ammonia transfers that simulated bunkering operations in the Pilbara region in western Australia.
Additionally, it is also exploring a series of pilots to scale the adoption of energy efficiency technologies (EETs) in shipping through Pay-As-You-Save (PAYS), a third-party performance based financing model that shares risks and rewards with stakeholders already deployed in other sectors.
Collaboration is crucial in addressing the energy transition, especially within the diverse maritime industry. The challenges ahead to achieve net zero are too significant for any single organisation to tackle alone.
…said Dr Sanjay Kuttan, Chief Strategy Officer, GCMD.
Beyond addressing adoption barriers for ammonia as a marine fuel and EETs, GCMD is also working on initiatives to unlock the carbon value chain and develop an assurance framework for drop-in green fuels.
