Clean maritime
The South West.Decarbonising the future of the maritime industry.
Clean, low-carbon shipping and ports will transform the maritime industries, and the South West is playing a crucial role in developing the technology needed.
If the shipping industry was a country, it would be in the world’s top ten carbon emitters. At nearly 3% of global C02 emissions, ships emit more than Germany, much of it from the bunker fuel used to power their engines. Cleaning up the industry is a global task, and it’s being pioneered by the expertise of businesses and educational institutes here in the South West.
Why the South West leads maritime decarbonisation
Marine autonomy expertise
Smaller, lighter and requiring less energy to operate than conventional vessels, autonomous and remotely operated craft will play a crucial part in reducing emissions. The South West is a world leader in marine autonomy, with the UK’s largest concentration of scientists, developers and constructors in one region
Creating a national centre for decarbonising the industry
A state-of-the-art clean maritime research centre is being built at Appledore in North Devon to develop low and no carbon propulsions systems for ships, as well as autonomous vessels, improvements to aquaculture, better environmental intelligence and to support the floating offshore wind industry.
World-leading research institutions
The regions universities and research institutions are world-class, with an exceptional; array of facilities, expertise and access to the open ocean. The University of Plymouth has a centre dedicated to decarbonising the ocean, the University of Exeter is home to the Centre for Future Clean Mobility.
We’re at the heart of floating offshore wind
By 2030 the UK’s largest floating offshore wind development will be underway off the South West coast. The knowledge, development and construction needed will create a region with unrivalled knowledge of clean energy creation, and how it can be used to decarbonise the maritime industries.
How Maritime UK South West’s members are forging the future
As well as its services to the offshore renewable energy industry, A&P Falmouth is beginning a project to provide electric power hookups for ships at Falmouth Port. Shore power – electricity from the Grid – will replace onboard diesel generators, cutting local emissions and noise from power generation to zero.
Plymouth-based Acua Ocean is the designer and builder of the Pioneer uncrewed surface vessel, powered by either twin electric motors or optional hydrogen fuel cell and diesel range extenders, which give it the ability to stay at sea for 50 days. It’s a low-emissions, low-noise craft capable of carrying a standard 20ft shipping container and a 6.5 tonne payload. Built from aluminium, the Pioneer uses a twin-hull design to increase stability and can deal with waves of up to 4m.
Maritime design and engineering consultancy BMT is a world leader in clean maritime development, with global experience in the industry. Its full-service offer covers every stage of a project, and its engineering expertise helps create innovative solutions to difficult problems. Recent projects include a hydrogen-powered engine and restoring seagrass, an important natural carbon sink.
Helping businesses develop clean propulsion and power systems, the centre has a marine business technology centre dedicated to developing solutions for maritime. Recent projects include a hybrid fuel-cell battery powertrain for an 80-passenger crew boat and retrofitting a research vessel with a hybrid diesel hydrogen system.
Based in Bristol, the National Composites Centre specialises in developing materials for hydrogen storage and infrastructure, to help speed up the move away from fossil-fuel powered shipping. It’s also pioneering ways to deal with existing GRP waste from boats, and new, easier to recycle composites made from biomaterials. It uses digital engineering techniques, such as augmented reality, to help businesses make processes more efficient and cut waste in production.
PML works at the other end of clean maritime; the prevention of emissions rather than their reduction. It specialises in the development and testing of antifouling coatings and technology, and their role in reducing fuel consumption by reducing drag and load. Effective antifouling has an important role to play in a different kind of clean maritime: reducing the introduction of potentially harmful non-native species, a problem exacerbated by ships moving marine life across the planet on their hulls.
A 25-acre campus that’s home to dozens of innovative businesses and academics, Plymouth Science Park is more than just a landlord; it works to connect cutting-edge businesses and organisations to growth and investment opportunities.
To tackle the issue of abandoned and scrap boats, South Hams District Council and consultants Blue Parameters trialled the dismantling of an abandoned 29ft boat, to recover any recyclable material. Over £4000 worth of material was removed, and sections of the fibreglass hull were successfully recycled. The project is now looking at ways of scaling up the dismantling and recovery operation.
A world-leading hydrographic centre, the UKHO provides geospatial ocean data that helps shipping plan the most efficient routes and avoid waiting at ports to unload, cutting emissions. It’s also involved in the creation of green shipping corridors, designed to allow zero-emission fuel ships to use the most efficient route to access ports.
The University’s Centre for Decarbonisation and Offshore Renewable Energy is a leading research and development facility that’s helped with projects like Plymouth’s first electric ferry and feeding power from electric boats to the grid. The University has also been closely involved in creating the North Devon Clean Maritime Innovation Centre, and is providing data collection expertise for the creation of an electric boat charging network stretching from Falmouth to Chichester.