World Maritime Day: UK announces £60m funding for emission-free shipping

Tankers, cruise ships, ports, and the wider maritime sector are being encouraged to find ways to slash emissions and boost economic growth, thanks to £60m of funding for the UK maritime industry.

To mark this year’s World Maritime Day (29 September), transport secretary Anne-Marie Trevelyan is announcing funding for the third round of the Clean Maritime Demonstration Competition (CMDC), which will run from April 2023 – March 2025 and help innovative companies and scientists make emission-free maritime a reality. 

The theme of 2022 World Maritime Day is ‘new technologies for greener shipping’. The UN says the theme reflects the need to support a green transition of the maritime sector into a sustainable future, while leaving no one behind. It provides an opportunity to focus on the importance of a sustainable maritime sector and the need to build back better and greener in a post-pandemic world.

International shipping transports more than 80 per cent of global trade to people and communities all over the world. Shipping remains the most efficient and cost-effective method of international transportation for most goods.

However, in 2020, UK domestic maritime vessels contributed around 5 per cent of the UK’s domestic greenhouse gas emissions – more than trains and buses combined.

The transport secretary is making the announcement during a keynote address to the Atlantic Future Forum in New York, on the HMS Queen Elizabeth. The address will focus on how maritime security improves global prosperity and protects all interests, as well as how more environmentally friendly shipping can lead to a sustainable future for maritime trade.

“The UK has always been a proud seafaring nation, and helping the maritime sector to be more environmentally friendly will mean it continues to play a key role in the UK’s economy for generations to come,” says Trevelyan.

UK companies will be able to bid for a slice of the funding to supercharge the development of early-stage clean maritime technologies for wider use in the future.

“The green transition is now at the top of every ship manager, owner, and operator’s agenda,” comments Sarah Barrett from technology group Wärtsilä Voyage.

“As the IMO’s EEXI and CII regulation fast approaches, ensuring compliance will be a key driver for maritime organisations to harness technology for greener shipping. However, in today’s competitive maritime landscape, organisations are under increasing pressure to juggle environmental and regulatory goals with action that ensures the highest possible profit margin.

“Today’s powerful software algorithms can play an important role here, analysing data to make recommendations that could inform decision-making and vastly improve performance, efficiency, and voyage and vessel optimisation. Take fuel – the single largest cost to ship operations – as an example. Software-driven insights can help chart the most optimised voyage so that less fuel is consumed. Not only does this reduce the emissions from a vessel on that route, but it can also free up money to reinvest elsewhere in decarbonisation goals.

“At the end of the day, data-based decision making will play a crucial role in futureproofing shipping and ensuring companies can continue to run safe, sustainable, efficient, compliant, and profitable businesses.”

Also announced today (29 September 2022) are the winning projects from the second round of the CMDC, launched in May 2022, which saw £12m shared between 121 UK companies.

Among the winners are three projects exploring the development of green shipping corridors – zero-emission shipping routes between two ports. These routes build on the Clydebank Declaration backed by 24 states at COP26.

The Clean Tyne Shipping Corridor consortium, the Aberdeen Harbour Board and ACUA Ocean hydrogen-powered North Sea crossing study and the (GCSS) study between the Port of Dover and the Ports of Calais and Dunkirk, aim to support the transition to green crossings to and from the UK. This could one day create international agreements that would see only zero-emission vessels – including ferries, leisure crafts and workboats – between the UK and other ports.

“The maritime sector is of crucial importance to the UK, with more than 95 per cent of our trade running through the major ports that connect us to the global economy,” says Innovate UK executive director for Net Zero, Mike Biddle.

“As such an important part of the UK economy, significant change is needed to ensure that the sector adapts to new, clean technologies, reducing maritime emissions.”