Welcome Letter

43RD

2022

NICK EDSTROM

Editor, The Motorship

Dear delegates,

Welcome to the latest Motorship’s Propulsion & Future Fuels Conference. We are delighted to welcome our attendees back to Hamburg, after last year’s enforced sojourn in Copenhagen.

Our conference has covered innovations in the marine fuels and propulsive technologies field since 1979, and offers a unique opportunity for shipowners, OEMs and other interested parties to come and keep track of the regulatory, technical and market developments in the gaseous fuels market. We are excited to bring together a strong programme of leading industry experts, class society specialists and a number of ship owner sand ship operators. Our focus on gaseous and alternative liquid fuels, including ammonia and methanol, and the rapid pace of developments since our last conference means that regulatory and technical themes are more topical than ever.

Our conference opens with a topical High Level Panel discussion, which will cover the expected impact of requirements for shore-power infrastructure development under the Alternative Fuels Infrastructure Regulation (AFIR), as well as the FuelEU Maritime Regulation which will come into effect in 2025, imposing life cycle GHG footprint requirements on the energy used on board ships.

The major change in the years since our conference was last held in Hamburg is the amount of investment that is flowing into upstream developments for the production of biofuels, renewable hydrogen, ammonia and methanol.

The concurrent introduction of upstream fuel (or hydrogen vector) production with dualfuel vessels capable of operating on methanol (or ammonia from 2024) will lead to profound changes in the fuel mix used in the deep-sea shipping market. Similar changes are occurring in the LNG market, where bio-methane and subsequently synthetic LNG, are likely to reduce GHG emissions from the market.

It is fascinating to see how the order of methanol and ammonia-fuelled vessels by a number of progressive shipowners and cargo owners is creating demand for methanol and ammonia, which in turn is spurring investment in the production of fuels by others. Far from being part of the problem, shipping is acting as an enabler for the faster introduction of solutions.

We include a number of technological case studies from shipowners and technology partners who have adopted innovative technologies. The shortlist for the editor’s award focuses on four innovative projects that have demonstrated the potential for GHG emission savings, including Egil Ulvan Rederi’s zero-emission self-discharging hydrogen-fuelled bulk carrier design, With Orca; Hoegh Autoliners’ multi-fuel and zero carbon ready Aurora Class vessel; the Northern Lights’ liquid-CO2 carriers in carbon-transport-and-storage project; a series of hybrid DF PCTC vessels for NYK Line and Wärtsilä’s retrofit-optimised solution to convert existing 2-stroke electronically-controlled engines to run on either LNG, methanol or ammonia. Once again, we are fortunate enough to be joined by a strong programme of leading industry experts, class society specialists and ship owners and ship operators.

Our thanks go to our dedicated and knowledgeable advisory committee members and our kind sponsors, including Gold Sponsor DNV and Silver Sponsors Accelleron and GTT, without whom this event could not have taken place.

It is our hope that our conference permits an exchange of ideas around the decarbonisation issue. I wish you a productive, illuminating and thought-provoking few days in Hamburg and I look forward to witnessing, as always, a generous exchange of ideas.

Yours sincerely,

Nick Edstrom Editor, The Motorship