Government invests in greener maritime technologies

News

£30 million investment will go towards decarbonising coastal communities and businesses, as part of the latest round of the Clean Maritime Demonstration Competition (CNDC6). CNDC6 aims to support clean maritime technologies such as electric, hydrogen, ammonia, methanol, wind power, and more.

So far, the competition has delivered funding channelled into over 300 different organisations, bringing in more than £100 million of private investment across the UK.

Previous projects the scheme has boosted include the installation of Britain’s first electric chargepoint network across ports in the South West, the largest ever retrofit of a hydrogen research vessel in Wales, and an innovative method of charging marine EVs offshore, which completed its first trial Orkney last autumn.

Maritime minister, Mike Kane, said: “This new £30 million investment is part of our Plan for Change — growing the economy and making Britain a clean energy superpower.

“I’m proud to see this funding boost growth and create jobs throughout the UK, as well as ushering in an era of zero-emission shipping.”

The maritime minister has visited Hull to see one of the competition’s winners, GT Wings’ Airwing™, which is to reduce emissions on vessels by up to 30 per cent through wind propulsion.

The first Airwing will be assembed at the MMS Docks in Hull and is to be installed on a Carisbrooke Shipping vessel, set to be trialled in the ocean this coming March. 

Captain Simon Merritt, senior fleet manager at Carisbrooke Shipping Ltd, said: “We look forward to the first Airwing being installed on our cargo ship this month, significantly reducing fuel consumption and emissions.

“This project has been accelerated with funding from Department for Transport and Innovate UK under CMDC Round 4. It demonstrates the power of collaboration between leading British companies, turning innovative ideas into real solutions to decarbonise the maritime industry while creating job opportunities in the UK.”

The sixth round of funding will bring the total amount of investment through CMDC up to £159 million. The CMDC funding comes from the £236 million UK Shipping Office for Reducing Emissions (UK SHORE) programme, which is focused on decarbonising the UK maritime sector through research and development.