There will always be people that are of a different opinion, but I personally think there are few who are no longer aware of the risks of climate change and the need for an energy transition. Not even in the shipping and maritime industry. However, the answer to the question of what course to take towards a future without climate-threatening emissions is not so easy, for here too, there seem to be several roads leading to Rome, because if you can no longer use fossil fuels, then what?
Fortunately, solutions are feverishly being sought at many levels and also in many countries in many circles. Almost every edition of SWZ|Maritime pays attention to the energy transition in one way or another and regularly we devote extra attention to it in the form of a special. The presentation of a Roadmap Fuel Transition in Maritime Shipping on 24 October by the Netherlands Enterprise Agency (RVO) is an excellent reason for this extra attention. The Roadmap should provide a guide for achieving climate-neutral shipping in 2050.
Our editor Johan de Jong, manager of international relations at the Maritime Research Institute Netherlands (MARIN), has worked with the researchers involved in the Roadmap study to come up with a series of articles that are particularly worthwhile to delve into between Christmas and New Year’s.
Our great thanks for these articles to the people of RVO, Rosan Nusselder, Maurice Luijten and Elke van Thuijl, Jurrit Bergsma of TNO, David Anink as policy officer Shipping Climate of the Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management, Loes Knotter of the Platform Renewable Fuels, Marielle Chartier of Port of Rotterdam, and Pieter ‘t Hart, project coordinator Green Maritime Methanol. And of course, Johan de Jong for coordinating this special. In an introductory article, our colleague was also able to give his thoughts on the current energy transition situation in shipping.
Also read: SWZ|Maritime’s November 2024 issue: Digitalisation and offshore energy
ICCAS and Finland
And if that is not enough, in this issue also the second part of the report on the ICCAS conference last September in Genoa on the digitalisation of shipbuilding and shipping. This also plays an important role in making shipping cleaner.
And also two articles by yours truly about how Finland is also committed to the energy transition and its attempt to find like-minded partners for this in the Netherlands. This means that our own maritime manufacturing industry is not doing so poorly and also has interesting knowledge to offer outside the Netherlands to advance the energy transition in shipbuilding and shipping.
This is editor-in-chief Antoon Oosting’s editorial accompanying the December 2024 issue.
Also read: SWZ|Maritime’s October 2024 issue: If you can’t appreciate the small…
SWZ app and archive
Our digital archive is available to subscribers both online and in our new app (available for Android and Iphone) and they can read the digitial version of our December issue there. Not yet a subscriber? Visit our subscription page.
Also read: SWZ|Maritime’s September 2024 issue: Superyachts and superdrones
The articles in SWZ|Maritime’s December issue
In addition to the regular sections such as Dutch news, Markets, Global news, book reviews, news from the KNVTS and Mars Report, the articles in the December issue are:
- Finland excels in integration & automation
- The dual-fuel ‘wait & see’ group in decarbonising
- Roadmap on the fuel transition in shipping
- Het investeringspad voor groene scheepsbrandstoffen
- Klimaatonderhandelingen bij de IMO
- Al drie keer Green Maritime Methanol
- Rotterdamse haven zet in op een multi-fuel future
- More than 30 million TEU at sea!
- Connecting the virtual world to the real one
- CEDA – The time for ports to tackle climate risk is now
- CEDA – Full steam ahead
Picture: In November, Feadship’s Project 821, the world’s first hydrogen fuel-cell superyacht, completed sea trials. The hydrogen serves the hotel load, the yacht sails on bio-fuel and is equipped with batteries. It shows the energy transition is at work in all maritime sectors (photo Feadship, cover picture of the December 2024 issue of SWZ|Maritime).
Also read: SWZ|Maritime’s July-August 2024 issue: Germany, a good client for Dutch shipbuilding
