A GROUP of shipping industry players have launched the Maersk Mc-Kinney Moller Centre for Zero Carbon Shipping (MCZCS), aimed at developing new fuel types and technologies to decarbonise maritime transport.
The founding company partners behind this initiative are ABS, AP Moller-Maersk, Cargill, MAN Energy Solutions, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, NYK Lines and Siemens Energy.
The centre, which will be based in Copenhagen, is funded by a start-up donation of DKK400 million (US$60 million) by the AP Moller Foundation and will be run as a non-profit organisation, set up as a commercial foundation with a charitable purpose.
While the shipping sector currently accounts for around three per cent of global carbon emissions, there are short-term targets related to increased energy efficiency to enable a 40 per cent relative reduction by 2030.
As an independent research centre, it will work across the entire shipping sector with industry, academia and authorities, reports UK's Container Management.
A specialised, cross-disciplinary team will collaborate globally to create overviews of decarbonisation pathways, accelerate the development of selected decarbonising fuels and powering technologies, and support the establishment of regulatory, financial and commercial means to enable transformation.
A board of directors is being established to define the strategic direction of the centre, while AP Moller-Maersk CEO Soren Skou has been confirmed as board member.
"The founding partners and the AP Moller Foundation share a long-term ambition to decarbonise the shipping industry," said Mr Skou.
The establishment of the centre is a quantum leap towards realising that ambition. This joint initiative will accelerate investments and implementation of new technologies," he said.
The centre will have a management board, which will be headed by Bo Cerup-Simonsen as CEO of the centre, who holds a PhD from the Technical University of Denmark in Mechanical Engineering, Naval Architecture.
The founding partners will donate experts, resources and/or testing platforms to support the operations while the centre expects to attract several more partner companies in the future.
During the first two to three years the centre will recruit around 100 employees to the Copenhagen-based office and collaborate with new partners across the globe.