Strategically investing in sustainable shipping will take more than dollars and cents from individual vessel operators. To reduce carbon emissions while efficiently moving cargo, the maritime industry needs significantly further collaboration from partners, particularly governments, to advance innovative technologies and consistent standards.

The $1bn question

This article is part of a series written by people across shipping in response to this question about how to deploy a hypothetical TradeWinds Sustainable Shipping Fund:

How, where and why would you invest $1bn for the best return in sustainable shipping, as the industry grapples with the need to cut carbon emissions, improve efficiency and keep cargoes moving in a world facing multiple economic and political challenges? The investment will be made now and ideally held for the next seven years to the end of the decade. As an added bonus, give one policy or regulation you would like to implement from 1 January 2023 to benefit shipping?

Major public and private investments are necessary to reach the net-zero emissions commitments and climate action goals that Crowley and other industry leaders embrace. Many companies, including ours, have invested in lower-emission vessels and more efficient technologies. For example, the Crowley fleet for the US and Caribbean basin will have six ships fuelled by LNG by 2025, as well as microgrids, electrified terminal fleets and equipment.

However, the US government and other nations have largely left out vessels and shipboard technology from the research and development (R&D) funding found in the Inflation Reduction Act and other initiatives that other modes of transportation, including air and trucking, have leveraged to lower greenhouse gas emissions.

We know that, ultimately, decarbonisation will require shipboard and shoreside systems that allow the safe use of dependable zero greenhouse gas energies – innovations that require applied R&D incentivised in the public and private sectors. Our eWolf — the first US all-electric harbour tug — would not be nearing completion without partnership among federal and state agencies and Crowley. The same is needed on the ocean shipping side at higher scale to avoid stranded assets and develop the most promising fuels and carbon-neutralising technology.

But time is of the essence. Regulators are not moving fast enough to approve effective standards to implement carbon-reduction technology, or alternative fuels and their necessary supply infrastructure. We need to urgently incentivise first-movers even if they are not using fully renewable fuels at the start.

Case in point: Crowley’s LNG-fuelled ships were first of their kind and regulations were developed along the way. Our biggest success as this project unfolded was the design and implementation of an industry-first fuel delivery system, including a shoreside fuelling station.

This is important because while we can all likely agree that LNG is a bridge and not the final answer, it is a step forward because it dramatically reduces particulate matter pollution as well as meaningfully reduces greenhouse gas on the seas and at port communities.

While we partner to find solutions that fully reach decarbonisation, LNG infrastructure requires no retrofitting to support future renewable natural gas distribution. So, growing the availability of LNG and RNG through more infrastructure is an ideal way for governments to support the shift to cleaner fuel.

There is no single or simple solution, or one silver bullet to decarbonise shipping. But there is a path: broader, more effective investment and partnership that accelerates the rate of change in shipping.

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