If Covid-19 and the crew-change crisis have been the most pressing challenges for ship managers, then decarbonisation is arguably the greater, longer-term issue they will have to grapple with.

Anglo-Eastern envisages decarbonisation as being part of a growing trend towards strategic partnerships between managers and owners. It has already been involved in the design of an ammonia-fuelled newcastlemax that could hit the water in the next three or four years.

Chief executive Bjorn Hojgaard said: “In the short term, it is about seeing if we can improve efficiency with the existing equipment. It’s about being better at managing voyages."

The International Maritime Organization's upcoming index assessing the efficiency of existing vessels — the Energy Efficiency Existing Ship Index — and the tailoring of solutions for operational efficiency is an area where ship managers can play a role, he said.

Innovation

“On a longer horizon it is about being involved with our shipowner partners on innovating new ships, engines and fuels,” Hojgaard added.

Anglo-Eastern also has a small passengership in Europe burning hydrogen as fuel on a test basis, and Hojgaard said: “We have even partnered with a company like Core-Power, which is developing molten salt nuclear reactors. That is perhaps a bit further into the future, but we have been working on space requirements and design for such equipment in engine rooms.”

Wilhelmsen Ship Management is responding to the accelerating focus on alternative fuels with a two-pronged reorganisation.

“One leg will focus specifically on futuristic opportunities such as decarbonisation, IMO 2030/2050 and autonomous vessels,” said president and chief executive Carl Schou.

“We are also establishing a consultancy service to advise owners who are interested in new fuels, especially hydrogen,” he said.

The Wilhelmsen Group is involved in three hydrogen projects: as fuel, cargo and bunkering. “This is at group level due to costing and funding but will gradually be transferred across to ship management.”

Schou added that the manager will also be involved in the operational side of whatever the wider group does in the offshore wind sectors.

Thome Group is another that is working on what can be done with the existing fleet, and then with owners on how they will operate with future fuels and technologies such as LNG, methanol, hydrogen, fuel cells or batteries.

Hostile environment

Chief executive Olav Nortun said it has a small group working with owners on LNG and methanol, which are likely to be the first alternative fuels.

“We are not going to be a technology leader, but will be applying, managing and operating it so we need to have an understanding,” said Nortun.

However, Thome believes the basics of alternative fuels do not involve revolutionary change, unlike fuel cells and batteries that will bring a raft of novel challenges and eventually require employing people with new skills. Nortun cited a battery development project that has been running for 15 years.

The biggest challenges for any technology on a ship is the hostile environment — corrosion, vibration, temperature, up and down

Thome Group chief executive Olav Nortun

“The biggest challenges for any technology on a ship is the hostile environment — corrosion, vibration, temperature, up and down. It takes time to gain enough knowledge and that is the journey we are all part of,” Nortun added.

Wallem Shipmanagement managing director and interim chief executive John-Kaare Aune said managers can utilise their ability to collect data, but will also need to invest in decarbonisation to provide advice to shipowners.

“It is about being able to use all this data, to pull out the value, to see where you are going to get the most for your dollars investing in the maintenance, the training, the different green initiatives to improve efficiency.”

Wallem is working with one owner on an LNG dual-fuel ship, the first it has done, and is discussing evaluation of alternatives.

“There will be significantly more developments on propulsion than navigation in the next 10 to 15, 20 years,” Aune said, referring to the recent digital development of bridge systems.

East European crewing specialist Danica Crewing Services believes that, as the fleet will not change overnight, it will be able to follow technological developments that will require seafarers to gain new skills.

Managing director Henrik Jensen said it is not a problem now, but crew shortages could return in the future.

“Alternative propulsion systems will require more diversified and specialist training, and seafarers will be harder to replace,” he said.

The opportunity for Danica, ship managers and seafarers is that they will become higher value assets to owners as vessels become more specialised, Jensen said. This means all three can play a more important role for smaller shipowners.

Clean fuel pathways

Bernhard Schulte Shipmanagement is another to have established a decarbonisation team, with dedicated experts examining potential clean fuel pathways, propulsion and storage technologies that are likely to become available soon on both Schulte-owned and managed vessels.

“Concurrently, the team is looking for new shipping opportunities, developed from the introduction of the green hydrogen economy, which may suit the wide maritime solutions expertise that they hold within the group,” said Schulte Group chief executive Ian Beveridge.

As a manager of its own chartered-out containerships, Seaspan Ship Management said research into the best solutions is a role managers can really help owners with.

Chief operating officer Torsten Pedersen said Seaspan is looking to be at the forefront of fuel efficiency as a fleet owner. Although LNG is the only currently viable alternative fuel, he questioned how long that would continue to be the case?

“Seaspan is looking for retrofit solutions for whichever alternative fuel emerges — ammonia, hydrogen or methanol — because of the number of ships it needs to ensure have a full 25-year lifespan,” Pedersen said.

Jonathan Boonzaier contributed to this story.