The Global Centre for Maritime Decarbonisation (GCMD), a Singapore-based green shipping organisation, has notched up its first Greek member, Onassis company Olympic Shipping & Management.
The two entities said in a joint statement on Tuesday that they signed an agreement committing to a five-year cooperation.
As a so-called impact partner, Olympic will offer financial support to GCMD projects and provide technical expertise, data and access to hard assets in support of drop-in green fuel, carbon capture and other trials.
“The Onassis-Olympic Shipping Group brings a recognised Greek brand to the forefront of the global decarbonisation agenda,” said Professor Lynn Loo, GCMD’s chief executive.
“We … are hopeful that this marks the beginning of greater collaboration with the Greek shipping community.”
Olympic has a fleet of 18 large tankers, from aframax to VLCC.
It aims to have a zero-carbon fleet by 2050 — nearly a century after Olympic was established in 1952 by Greek shipping legend Aristotle Onassis.
The best way to reach such goals, however, is “through synergies and collaborations”. chief executive George Karageorgiou said.
What attracted Olympic to GCMD is the scientific and technically proficient approach with which the non-profit organisation approaches decarbonisation, sources told TradeWinds in Athens.
Set up in August 2021 by the Maritime & Port Authority of Singapore, the GCMD has industry heavyweights BHP, BW Group, Eastern Pacific Shipping, Foundation Det Norske Veritas, Ocean Network Express and Sembcorp Marine as co-founding members.
With a mandate to help shipping reduce its carbon emissions as quickly as possible, the centre widened its footprint with 15 other partners, of which Olympic becomes the first Greek one.
Anthony Papadimitriou, president of the Onassis Foundation that controls Olympic, is also a board member of the Global Maritime Forum, with which the GCMD joined forces early last year.
The projects fostered by GCMD include studies into ammonia bunkering safety and carbon capture. It has separately pursued a partnership with Denmark’s Maersk Mc-Kinney Moller Center for Zero Carbon Shipping.
