From fibreglass sails to charterer buying power: a suite of interim solutions to cut energy use in shipping

With steel and fibreglass “WindWings” soaring 123 feet from its deck, the Pyxis Ocean cargo ship—chartered by the US commodities group Cargill—set sail from Singapore last week. The five-year-old ship, which can carry almost 81,000 tonnes of cargo, has been retrofitted with the white sails to investigate how wind power could reduce energy use on ships. 

As it travels to Brazil, the Pyxis Ocean will deliver data on the sails’ effectiveness, but their designers—BAR Technologies and Yara Marine Technologies—already say the automated WindWings can generate an average fuel-savings of up to 30% when installed on newly built ships.

A huge proportion of international goods—more than 80%—travels by sea, but the global shipping industry is estimated to account for 2.9% of carbon-dioxide emissions as well as other greenhouse gases (GHGs) and pollutants. With global trade projected to grow by 2.1% annually during 2023-27, it is imperative for the industry to accelerate efforts to decarbonise. Against this backdrop, in July the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) revised its targets, aiming for at least a 20% reduction in shipping emissions by 2030, 70-80% by 2040 and net zero—or near net zero—by 2050.

In a bid to nudge the industry closer to those targets, an increasing number of interim solutions are being proposed, even while the old oil and gas guard remains in place as a primary source of shipping fuel. 

The Pyxis Ocean sails are one such solution, funded by the European Union as part of the 2020 CHEK Horizon project, which hopes to find solutions for zero-emissions shipping. Around the world, governments are increasingly supporting net-zero efforts in the industry. 

Public companies are also offering solutions. Nawaz Haq, executive director of SulNOx, a greentech firm that produces fuel additives to reduce both emissions and pollution, says its fuel conditioner not only works to cut consumption but, because it enables more complete fuel combustion, it almost completely eliminates black carbon and particulate matter. Both these pollutants are known to impact sea ice as well as the sea’s surface microlayer, a “skin” on the ocean’s surface less than 1mm thick that plays a role in ocean dynamics, including carbon uptake. 

“Trials undertaken by Green Sea Guard, an independent engine-emissions monitoring specialist, onboard a large superyacht named Yalla have shown reductions in black carbon and particulate matter of over 99% in a one-year programme,” says Mr Haq. He adds that further independent tests have shown similar levels of impact, “demonstrating strong repeatability”, which he says makes this a compelling transitional solution. Hull maintenance, a robust anti-fouling system and even refitting propellers can all help cut fuel use too. 

Elsewhere, others are harnessing the purchasing power of cargo owners to effect change. Richard Hixson, a critical-care consultant in the UK’s National Health Service (NHS), set up Healthcare Ocean in 2020 with fellow physician Georgina Sowman, a general practitioner. The organisation aims to conserve and protect coastal and marine ecosystems by minimising the adverse impacts of healthcare procurement and delivery. Since its inception, it has grown into a network encompassing healthcare, marine science, environmental and public health, and commercial shipping, with people giving their time to ensure that ocean health is considered and included in healthcare strategy. 

“We have a lot of cargo owners supplying healthcare products to the UK,” says Dr Hixson. “So I went back to NHS England and spent some time persuading them that we should be working with our suppliers to help decarbonise.” 

As part of its procurement process, NHS England has what it calls an “evergreen framework”—a list of questions it puts to suppliers. That list now includes whether they are a signatory of Cargo Owners for Zero Emission Vessels (coZEV), an avenue for cargo owners to show their commitment to net zero by 2040. “Our 80,000 suppliers, with which we spend £32bn annually, are now asked this question,” explains Dr Hixson. 

Although it’s voluntary at present, he says that by signing up to the coZEV ambition statement and declaring they have done so, “cargo owners are seen as favourable suppliers to the NHS. It counts towards the contract for their goods and services and can actually make them more competitive as a supplier to the NHS.” This, he says, provides an economic incentive as well as an environmental one. 

But why focus on the cargo owner rather than the shipping companies themselves?

“The voice of the cargo owner is hugely powerful, because without the cargo owner you don't have a shipping company,” says Dr Hixson. By incentivising the positive, he says he can use “the economics of the buying power of a large public-sector organisation like the NHS”. 

It is about more than simply choosing net-zero-supportive suppliers. “If we do this—and we can—we can gather the voices of the cargo owners together, amplify them, and drive down the price of alternative fuels,” says Dr Hixson. 

Bryan Wood-Thomas, environmental lead at the World Shipping Council, agrees on the need for the kind of scale that Dr Hixson, coZEV and the Zero Emission Maritime Buyers Alliance, another initiative, are trying to achieve. “[But] there’s only so far you can go with interim steps and fuel efficiency,” he says, warning against an over-focus on transition measures. “The main challenge lies in not creating a landscape where governments, energy producers and users are so vested in an interim solution that they are either highly reluctant to move on to more aggressive solutions, or worse, where we’ve created a situation in which we’ve made the introduction of those fuels and technologies that produce really deep reductions commercially unfeasible,” he says. 

Mr Wood-Thomas acknowledges the investments needed to bring the industry to net zero and the short-term sacrifices that will need to be made in the energy transition, including accepting a higher cost of shipping in the interim. 

He also expects more regulation on decarbonisation in the next two years.The IMO’s revised strategy and recently updated commitments are a step in a new direction. These are expected to be approved by all member states by 2025 to come into force by 2027. Mr Wood-Thomas is optimistic. “This is the first time we have had an extraordinarily diverse set of governments around the world in agreement on this,” he says. He believes such regulation will spur the necessary industry action, both in the interim and for the longer term.