There has through the recent years been established a wide consensus in the maritime industry that shipping must join the course towards decarbonization and elimination of greenhouse gas (GHG) emission in order to reduce its effect on global warming.
The IMO targets for reducing GHG are ambitious, but necessary and possible if the industry acts with urgency. The vessels being designed now, may be operational for at least two decades to come. As technologies and alternative fuels are not in place on a scale that permits a rapid change, the transformation of the shipping will likely be an evolutionary journey where each step gives tangible progress and benefits.
The stepwise evolution of technologies and carbon neutral fuels towards 2050, is yet not known. It is therefore important that the designs being made today do not only meet the known requirements, but also includes the platform and infrastructure to adapt to the various scenarios with feasible means.
While there are uncertainties in the path forward, it is in speaker’s view some elements that are essential for future-proof designs. Additionally, to being enabled for carbon neutral fuels:
- Electric infrastructure for integrating a variety of energy sources
- Maximizing energy efficiency
- Digitalization and autonomy
- Fleet connectivity
The presentation will focus on the status of the technologies as today, and the essentials as we see it from that perspective for futureproofing the design for sustainable and autonomous shipping.