The UK National Clean Maritime Research Hub is pleased to announce that preparations for the first cycle of our Co-innovations sprints are underway. The unique Co-Innovation Methodology proposed by the UK MaRes Hub aims to connect research with industry, ensuring real world challenges are being tackled.

This invitation-only event will take place over two days in February 2025, bringing together expertise from end users (ship builders, owners and ports) on day 1, and energy sector specialists, and technology providers on day 2. Throughout each day our team of researchers will work closely with industry experts, participating in scene-setting lightning presentations, brainstorming sessions, prioritisation and planning tasks, aimed at developing near-term innovative net-zero strategies with a 2030 timeframe in mind.

This will mark the first of three co-innovation cycles planned by the UK MaRes Hub, aimed at identifying decarbonisation solutions for different timeframes.

The technical sprint will be facilitated by Dr Jo North, Technology and Transformation Director at the Port of Tyne, and will:

• take insights from the Hub’s interdisciplinary research to examine port activities and decarbonisation efforts both at sea and on shore
• help us to identify gaps in our research
• explore some of the near-term challenges to decarbonisation and evaluate potential solutions
• consider policy interventions and financial investment
• help shape the Hub’s future research initiatives, operational practices, and policy development

The Clean Maritime Research Partnership was formed to bridge the gap between the academic research community and maritime stakeholders, with a view to co-creating a greener future for the sector. This workshop focused on the unique role ports play in decarbonising the maritime sector and the research capability available within the academic community to support this.

Participants engaged in knowledge sharing and thought leadership to identify practical solutions to accelerate the decarbonisation efforts in the maritime industry. There was representation from across the sector and academia, including but not limited to:

ABL Group, Peel Ports, Hadland Maritime, Carisbrooke Shipping, Ceres Power, Connected Places Catapult, Infineum, Freeport East, Stellar Systems, International Association of Classification Societies, Department for Transport, Port of Dover, Port of Felixstowe, COSCO Shipping and Scottish Power, Cranfield University and Bayes Business School.

Session 1: Port-centred systems

This workshop featured lighting talks from leading experts on port-centred systems, from both academic and stakeholder perspectives:

• Tim Van Vugt (Port of Dover)
• Prof Ying Xie (Cranfield University)
• James Riddick (Peel Ports Group)
• Paul Martin (ABL Group)

Subsequent workshops facilitated problem-solving conversations to explore ways in which industry and academia can work together to address the decarbonisation challenge, with session 1 outputs focussing on:

• Ports as energy hubs
• Port roadmap with funding needs
• Maximise operational efficiency
• Data driven decision making
• Skills development around new digital technologies
• Follow best practice from other industry sectors

Session 2: Ports and their wider systems and infrastructure

Session 2 featured further lightning talks from the speakers below, examining the role of ports as key enablers across the decarbonisation value chain.

• Steven Wilson (Freeport East)
• Dr Ioannis Moutzouris – (City University)
• Simon Merritt – (Carisbrooke Shipping)
• Matthew Napleton – (Zizo Technology)

The workshop that followed focused on system-wide thinking to identify research opportunities, aligning the needs of the industry with research expertise in universities around:

• Grid capacity – assurance of electricity supply
• Create framework to incentivise behaviour change
• Explore impact of moving away from fossil fuels on shipping operations
• System to become self-financing
• Incentives for investment
• Safety of new fuels – build consumer & community confidence

Outputs

A briefing paper  was produced which has been shared with UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) and UK-SHORE, capturing the commitment and capability within the Clean Maritime Research Partnership to decarbonise the maritime sector.

On the 1st of February 2024, the Clean Maritime Research Partnership met at Connected Places Catapult (London), to explore the role of digitalisation in decarbonising the maritime sector.

Session 1 included an introduction to the UK National Clean Maritime Research Hub (UK-MaRes Hub), outlining the purpose, vision, and overview of the programme of activity. There was an opportunity to meet colleagues working in the Hub, followed by a presentation from Mark Wray, Ecosystem Director of Maritime and Ports at Connected Places Catapult.

Session 2 featured presentations from key maritime stakeholders, including:

• Justin Anderson (Director of the Digital Twin Hub at Connected Places Catapult)
• Eleanor Hadland (Director of Hadland Maritime)
• Owain Brennan (Director of SeerBi)

Following the presentations, participants took part in workshop activities to Map the Digital Landscape.

A Focus on Flexible Funding

As part of the morning session, attendees were invited to vote on the topics for UK-MaRes Hub’s first flexible funding call, ensuring that the themes were relevant to academia and industry, and had the potential for real-world impact. Of the 14 options presented, the following priority areas were agreed to be the focus of the Wave 1 Funding Call:

• Real-time vessel data communication.
• Novel energy solutions for ports.
• Ammonia and liquid hydrogen bunkering/debunkering.
• Risk and uncertainty regarding marine regulations and policy implications.
• Modal shift: utilising coastal shipping to move freight to create marine freight highways.
• Novel energy-saving devices to improve vessel efficiency.
• Novel cost-effective nuclear propulsion systems.

Via a series of online workshops, stakeholders met to explore Tomorrow’s Transportation Systems, looking at common challenges and opportunities across all transport modes.

Discussions focussed on 6 priority areas:

• Decarbonisation
• Data and Digitalisation
• Resilience
• Autonomous and Automated Systems
• Freight Logistics
• Policy, Finance and Sustainability

For each theme, participants considered:

• The challenges
• The innovation needed
• The enablers and barriers
• How to create impactful change
• How can maritime relevant experience be translated and applied to wider transportation systems, and vice versa?

Conclusion

Attendees were asked to rank the themes in terms of priority for driving forward tomorrow’s transportation systems and concluded:

The decarbonisation of the maritime sector relies on research, development, demonstration, and deployment of scalable zero-emission energy solutions.

Stakeholders met at the International Chamber of Shipping to share their experience and expertise, in order to:

• Identify the on-going challenges for decarbonising the sector
• Understand the research gaps
• Apply a solutions-led approach to identify ways forward to meet IMO targets
• Discuss innovation, new technologies and fuel advancements

Following a series of lightning talks from sector experts, the group participated in a series of workshops structured around 6 key themes:

• Fuels
• Propulsion systems
• Port infrastructure
• Vessel design
• Operation an management of shipping
• Marine regulations and policy

Conclusion

The outputs from the workshop were analysed and a Lotus Blossom Matrix was produced, summarising the in-depth discussions that took place, and there was a commitment from the stakeholders to continue engaging going forward around different themes.