Maritime innovation – beyond the fine words

Innovation is a buzzword in maritime, with 'innovation hubs' springing up around the world to encourage the acceleration of automation and greener maritime tech. But are the bold promises of technology being kept, and how does maritime innovation benefit seafarers? Sarah Robinson, Rob Coston and Deborah McPherson investigate

As a trade union, Nautilus supports maritime innovation. Innovation can give seafarers a safer and better working experience and can make our industry less harmful to the environment.

When a maritime innovation hub is set up, it can be an indication that government and businesses are ready to invest in shipping and seafarers – which is no bad thing for an industry that so often suffers from being out of sight, out of mind.

Innovation hubs come in a variety of shapes and sizes, but in general a hub involves schemes to improve collaboration between individual businesses, and between the public and private sectors. Sometimes there is a physical campus where participants in the hub can work side by side to learn from each other and spark new ideas. Funding is often made available to develop inventions into viable businesses, and support can also be offered in the form of mentoring and networking.

Empty rhetoric or valuable promises?

Innovation hubs can sound great without necessarily delivering on a government's eager promises. With this in mind, Nautilus is holding the UK government to account on pledges made on innovation in its Maritime 2050 strategy document. The government wants to accelerate maritime innovation, particularly in developing cleaner fuels and other green maritime tech – as described below. But Nautilus is concerned that maritime professionals could be left behind in the rush to introduce new tech. So when the UK parliament's Transport Select Committee called for feedback this year on how the Maritime 2050 plans are progressing, Nautilus had this to say about training:

'As the maritime industry progresses towards decarbonisation as laid out in the [Maritime 2050] clean maritime plan, the need for continuous professional development, education and training will only increase. As technological advances are made and new fuels and engine types developed, it is imperative that our maritime professionals are given every opportunity to re-skill and up-skill so as not to be disadvantaged by these changes. Maritime professionals should not bear the costs of these re-training requirements; it should be funded by government and industry.'

There's more about Nautilus's participation in the Maritime 2050 review here, but we are going to look in more detail at how maritime innovation hubs are working in all three countries where the Union has national branches: the UK, Netherlands and Switzerland.

Maritime innovation in the UK

The UK has made a start on hub-style collaborative initiatives to move the industry towards 'net zero' carbon emissions. Established as part of the Department of Transport (DfT), the UK Shipping Office for Reducing Emissions (UK SHORE), was launched in March this year with the bold aim of cementing the UK's role as a technological innovator and manufacturer in the transport sector, and (even more boldly) '[making] journeys by sea as green as they were hundreds of years ago'.

The new office will draw on the experience gained in recent years through negotiations leading to the Clydebank Declaration at COP 26, and from the Clean Maritime Demonstration Competition (CMDC).

CMDC bearing fruit

The first CMDC was launched in 2021, and resulted in government funding being awarded to 55 UK projects, including a net-positive submarine fleet (i.e. one that removes more greenhouse gases than it emits) for collecting microplastics, software now being used to measure greenhouse gas emissions in ports, clean energy refuelling infrastructure in Grimsby, and 'the world's first commercially viable 100% electric, high-speed foiling workboat range', which was recently launched by Artemis Technologies.

A bid by MJR Power and Automation has created an all-electric charge point connected to an offshore wind turbine to power boats using 100% renewable energy. Billed as the 'world's first fully automated offshore wind vessel charging system', this is contributing towards 'Operation Zero', a coalition across the North Sea offshore wind sector, which intends to deploy zero-emissions workboats operating commercially on wind farms by 2025. Eight months after winning the funding, MJR has created the charging ports, and installation is now set to go ahead in late summer 2022 at the Lynn and Inner Dowsing offshore wind farms.

Ten times the funding

Whereas the 2021 CMDC offered £23 million in funding, UK SHORE now has £206 million in new funding for research and development to assign. This represents the largest investment by the DfT in maritime decarbonisation to date.

At the recent 2050 Maritime Innovation Week hosted in June by the Port of Tyne – which is aiming to be net zero itself by 2030 – Eamonn Beirne of the DfT revealed some of the ways this new UK SHORE funding will be used to boost innovation and help the country meet its climate ambitions.

This includes a second round of the CMDC to last over multiple years, which will also comprise feasibility studies for UK green shipping corridors. Some £12 million has already been assigned for the first year – with entries closing on 13 July 2022 – and substantially more funding is planned for years two and three.

UK SHORE’s plans also include a new Skills Taskforce for net zero shipping; a Zero Emission Ferries programme for 'greening intra-UK ferry routes'; grant schemes for early research projects at UK universities; and a Centre for Smart Shipping to support existing innovation hubs for automation – which is seen as a key way to cut emissions.

Spreading the wealth

As might be expected at an event hosted in the Port of Tyne rather than in the capital, there was also discussion about how investment in decarbonisation has helped to rebuild communities in previously declining areas of the UK – such as the offshore wind industry's investment in Grimsby – and how this trend can be continued.

In Liverpool, a £23 million Maritime Knowledge Hub is being developed as part of the redevelopment of Wirral Waters. The planning application has now been submitted for this centre – with proposed tenants including Peel L&P, Mersey Maritime and the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority – which will focus on the opportunities offered by decarbonisation via innovation, engineering, R&D, entrepreneurship and training. It will seek to provide the skilled professionals who will be needed to drive forward the maritime innovation projects of the future.