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ON SURVEY SUGGESTS A MULTI-FUEL FUTURE FOR

THE SHIPPING INDUSTRY ON THE PATH TO ZERO
EMISSIONS
Encouraged by regulation, customer demand, investor pres-
sure, and internal goals, shipping companies are searching
for ways to find greener fuel alternatives and reduce their
greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.
Edited by: To understand how shipping industry leaders are thinking
Giannis Theodoropoulos, about future fuels and what their plans and projections are
Manos Charitos to adopt cleaner fuels and efficiency-boosting technologies,
the Global Maritime Forum, the Global Centre for Maritime
Decarbonisation, and the Mærsk McKinney Møller Center for
Zero Carbon Shipping conducted a survey of major shipping
companies, with analytical support by McKinsey & Company.
As the shipping industry is in a period of experimentation and
exploration to understand the implications of adopting differ-
ent green fuels, surveys like this play a crucial role in informing
the industry and the public and supporting shipping’s transi-
tion to a zero-emissions future,’’ says Professor Lynn Loo, CEO
of the Global Centre for Maritime Decarbonisation.
The most striking result from the survey is a multi-fuel future:
the need to prepare for fleets operating on three or more
fuel “families.’’ The most common mix by 2050, represented
by forty-five per cent of respondents, is a fleet concurrently
running vessels on fuel oil/biodiesel, methane, methanol, and
ammonia—a step-change in fuel diversity.
Other survey findings suggest that internal combustion
engines will remain the preferred technology through 2050
and that the speed of the shipping industry’s adoption of
alternative fuels will be a function of the cost gap with fossil
fuels and the degree of availability of such greener alterna-
tives at ports worldwide.
Ports and bunker suppliers might prioritise the availability
of individual fuels in the short term. But in the longer-term,
ports that wish to attract the greatest possible number of
future vessels should prepare for the need to offer multiple
fuel types.
THE ers and regulators can help close the cost gap between green
The single most important factor in fuel choice will likely be
the rate of decarbonisation required by regulators. Policymak-

and fossil fuels and create a “level playing field” for all ship-
ping companies to accelerate their adoption of green fuels.

SEAFRONT

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