Marine Technology

Retrofit Highlights use of LPG as a Marine Fuel

The world’s first LPG-fuelled vessel has set sail. Powered with Wärtsilä’s customized and reliable Fuel Supply System, the vessel represents a major breakthrough in the search for new ways to reduce marine emissions. BW LPG, the world’s largest owner and operator of very large liquified petroleum gas (LPG) carriers, is approaching a major milestone in the retrofit of a number…


REV Ocean & WMU Join Forces Developing a “Floating University” Ocean Concept

In a virtual ceremony on 8 September, REV Ocean and the World Maritime University (WMU) signed an exciting new partnership agreement to join forces and find solutions to critical ocean issues. The agreement focuses on tackling marine debris, illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing (IUU), and climate change through innovative education initiatives that will also support priority areas identified in the…


ExxonMobil Completes Successful Trial of its Marine Biofuel Oil

ExxonMobil has completed a successful sea trial of the company’s first marine biofuel oil with shipping company Stena Bulk, bunkered in the port of Rotterdam. The marine biofuel oil is a 0.50% sulphur residual-based fuel (VLSFO) processed with a second-generation waste-based FAME component (ISCC certified) —and will be available later this year— initially in Rotterdam before a wider launch across…


Fuel Choice – the Essential Decision in Shipping’s Decarbonization

DNV GL – Maritime has released the 4th edition of its Maritime Forecast to 2050. The purpose of Maritime Forecast to 2050 is to enhance the ability of shipping stakeholders, especially shipowners, to navigate the technological, regulatory and market uncertainties in the industry, and set shipping on a pathway to decarbonization. It is based on a library of 30 scenarios…


Marlink and Quadrille Extend Their Partnership to Offer a News Channel for Seafarers

News channels in multiple languages to support the mental health of the crew are now available via Marlink’s Xchange. Marlink, the world’s leading provider of end-to-end managed smart network solutions has extended its partnership with software and service provider Quadrille to provide a dedicated news and information channel to Marlink maritime customers. Marlink and Quadrille are thus expanding their existing…


LNG Retrofits: The Time is Now

LNG as fuel has long been considered the industry’s last, best hope to meet the IMO’s ambitious targets to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 2030. So why aren’t we seeing more LNG retrofits on existing tonnage? In April 2018, MEPC 72 adopted resolution MEPC.304(72) on the Initial IMO Strategy on reduction of GHG emissions from ships. The IMO has…


TECO & AVL to Boost Shipping’s Decarbonization with Marine Hydrogen Fuel Cell

Marine engineering and equipment development company TECO 2030 and engineering firm AVL List have announced plans to develop a hydrogen fuel cell system specifically designed for heavy-duty marine applications. The companies have been working to develop the TECO Marine Fuel Cell, with the aim to market the first proton-exchange membrane fuel cell system specifically designed for marine applications. The three-year…


Kongsberg Maritime and Massterly to Equip and Operate 2 Zero-Emission Autonomous Vessels

Kongsberg Maritime and Massterly (a Kongsberg Wilhelmsen joint venture) have signed contracts with the leading Norwegian grocery distributor ASKO to equip two new vessels with autonomous technology, and to manage their operations at sea. With Norwegian companies delivering around 60% of the investment, this is a major milestone for the growth of sustainable maritime operations in Norway. The fully electric…


New Navi-Port Technology to Revolutionize Port Operations

At ports around the world, anchored vessels sit in the distance, waiting for permission to dock, resulting in fuel waste, higher carbon emissions, and congestion. Is there a solution to this problem? In most cases, cargo ships arriving at port are assigned a docking space on a first-come-first-served basis. This method of port arrivals has, in effect, created a queueing…


Marine Lubricants Market to Brace Itself for Robust Growth

At a time when maritime transport has become the backbone of international trade, marine lubricants have gained significant traction. Given that around 80% of global trade by volume and more than 70% of global trade by value are handled by ports and undertaken at sea, developing and developed economies have upped their investments in marine lubricants. With the share of…


Liquid Carbon Dioxide Transport Project to Start in Sweden

Gothenburg and Sweden could be the first in the world to create a joint infrastructure for the transport of liquefied. The project called CinfraCap is a collaborative venture between Göteborg Energi, Nordion Energi, Preem, St1, Renova, and Gothenburg Port Authority. CCS is widely regarded as a key component in the transition of the global energy system, and several research and…


What is MGO?

The mega ships burn tons of fuel everyday to propel their engines and deliver their massive loads to different ports. Ship engines have been known to use low-grade fuel oil to lower the ship’s operating costs, since the share of fuel cost can reach between 30-50% of total operating costs of a ship. It is not a simple decision to…



Japanese Consortium Working on World’s First CO2 Capture at Sea

A Japanese consortium is working to conduct test operations and measurements for a small-scale ship-based CO2 capture demonstration plant. Under the name “Carbon Capture on the Ocean” (CC-Ocean), the project seeks to achieve CO2 capture at sea in a world’s first. The Japanese companies, including Mitsubishi Shipbuilding Co., Ltd., a part of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) Group, K Line and…


Sailing on Sustainability: The Comeback of Wind Power?

As the shipping industry ramps up efforts to decarbonize, initial sea trials onboard a Maersk tanker fitted with Norsepower Rotor Sails indicate that wind power has the potential to play a significant role in a low carbon ocean transport system. Early results from a sea trial onboard the 109,647 DWT Maersk Pelican fitted with two meters high, five meters in…


Bloom, Samsung Sign Deal to Develop Ships Powered by Fuel Cells Fed by LNG

Bloom Energy and South Korea-based Samsung Heavy Industries (SHI) signed a joint development agreement to design and develop fuel cell-powered ships. The two companies will work together to use Bloom fuel cells to cut emissions on ships, a sizable source of pollution. The fuel cells would produce electricity that would power the ships via liquefied natural gas (LNG). Bloom’s main…


Innovative Engineless Sail Cargo Ship Next Step in Maritime Transition

On Friday 24-July-2020 at the Maritiem Museum Rotterdam the half hull model of the EcoClipper500 has been handed over to the founder of the EcoClipper B.V. shipping company: Captain Jorne Langelaan, by the constructor, ship carpenter Leo Boogerd in cooperation with Bert van Baar of the Bootbouwschool and Cadhead’s Marijke de Jong. The building of this half hull model is…


World’s First Full Scale Ammonia Engine Test to Begin

The technology group Wärtsilä, with Knutsen OAS Shipping, Repsol, and Sustainable Energy Catapult Centre, will commence the world’s first long term, full-scale, testing of ammonia as a fuel in a marine four-stroke combustion engine. The testing is made possible by a 20 MNOK grant from the Norwegian Research Council through the DEMO 2000 program, a statement said. “This is a…


Transforming Carbon Dioxide into Fuel More Efficiently with a Water-Conducting Membrane

Summary. Methanol is a versatile and efficient chemical used as fuel in the production of countless products. Carbon dioxide (CO2), on the other hand, is a greenhouse gas, the unwanted byproduct of many industrial processes. Converting CO2 to Methanol is one way to put CO2 to good use. Separation membranes could vastly improve multiple chemical processes. In research paper published…


Analyzing Future Marine Fuels

According to CAI International, “Since the 1960’s, Heavy Fuel Oil (HFO) has been the king of shipping fuels. A byproduct of crude oil, HFO expels 35,000 ppm into the environment and accounts for 8% of the sulfuric dioxide in the air. The arrival of the IMO 2020 fuel regulation in 2019 signaled a formal move toward alternatives to HFO like…


Philippines makes move into Offshore Wind Energy

The Philippines has taken first steps into the offshore wind power sector with plans to develop 1.2 GW, according to an international consortium that said it has been given the go-ahead to advance wind farm projects there. Triconti ECC, an alliance between Swiss, German and local players, claimed the Philippines Department of Energy (DOE) gave it “exclusive rights to studying…


LNG as Marine Fuel: ABS Issues Guidance

The adoption of the ‘Initial International Maritime Organization (IMO) Strategy on Reduction of Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Emissions from Ships’ by IMO Resolution MEPC.304(72) in April 2018 demonstrates IMO’s commitment to support the Paris Agreement. The IMO strategy includes initial targets to reduce as compared to 2008 levels the average CO2 emissions per ‘transport work’ by at least 40% by 2030,…


From Gale to Green Shipping

ShippingLab has announced its support for a new project that will convert power from the Wind turbines at the Port of Hvide Sande to hydrogen for use in a fuel cell intended to power a vessel. The vessel powered by the fuel cell will be used to keep the Danish port entrance free of sand. The companies involved in the…


Jotun and Kongsberg Maritime Join Forces in Developing Hull-Cleaning Robot

Two industry leaders, Jotun and Kongsberg Maritime, partnered to develop a robotic hull-cleaning device called the Jotun HullSkater designed to be carried onboard trips, and deployed regularly to scrub early-stage fouling. The HullSkater removes bacteria and biofilm from the hull before macro-fouling (e.g., barnacles) can take hold. Biofouling is a major contributor to fuel consumption and operating cost, and thus…


BMW joins UECC and GoodShipping Biofuel Trials on RORO Car Carriers for CO2 Reduction

After having announced their three-month biofuel trial, leading short-sea shipowner United European Car Carriers (UECC) and the GoodShipping Program have now partnered with premium car manufacturer BMW Group to continue to test marine Bio Fuel Oil (BFO) on UECC’s “roll on, roll off’ (RORO) car carrying vessels. BMW Group joins UECC and the GoodShipping Program in the previously announced trial,…