COPENHAGEN, May 13 — The sea freight sector is currently considering its future energy transformation. To achieve this, the elimination of heavy fuel oil is essential, although its replacement inevitably poses major technical and logistical challenges. Despite this, several credible clean alternatives are already on the horizon.
The first is methanol. To ensure that this is a clean alternative, methanol produced sustainably from renewable energies will need to be used. Danish ship owner Maersk is a forerunner in this field, having inaugurated its first green methanol-powered vessel earlier this year. Meanwhile, China’s Cosco and France’s CMA CGM have placed orders to convert several of their vessels. Over the next few years, some 200 cargo ships are expected to run on methanol around the globe.
Another solution is hydrogen, the combustion of which produces only steam. Here, the stumbling blocks are both cost and storage capacity. However, several projects are being studied, the most successful being that of the Dutch company Samskip. By the end of 2025, the first two ships should be sailing between Norway and the Netherlands powered by fuel cells.
More surprisingly, ammonia is also being considered a credible alternative to heavy fuel oil. It has the advantage of already being produced in large quantities, but given its toxicity, it can also prove harmful to the environment. At present, no ship has yet experimented with this solution. Current projects include that of North Sea Container Line, which plans to inaugurate the Yara Eyde in 2026, the world’s very first container ship to use ammonia as a fuel.
Finally, there’s electricity, although this technology is not yet suited to long-distance shipping, due to the capacity of batteries. It remains to be seen whether electric motors will be able to assist the propulsion of certain ships on short trips. Here again, things are progressing slowly but surely in Norway. Scheduled to enter service in 2022, the Yara Birkeland is the world’s first fully autonomous electric container ship. It will operate on short coastal routes, with a range of no more than 120 km.
Rather than changing the fuel type, original solutions are also being developed to help save fuel, such as a merchant ship recently fitted with large, solid sails designed to harness the wind’s energy to help propel it, with very encouraging results. This new technology could save the equivalent of three tonnes of fuel a day.
According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), shipping currently accounts for around 3 per cent of total CO2 emissions, ie, between 600 and 1,100 million tonnes of carbon dioxide released into the air every year. New International Maritime Organisation (IMO) regulations aim to reduce ships’ CO2 emissions by 30 per cent by 2030, with a view to achieving neutrality by 2050.
In addition to shipping, the cruise and yachting sectors have also begun their energy transition. — ETX Studio
