SINTEF Ocean becomes GCMD’s knowledge partner

November 6, 2024, by Ajsa Habibic

SINTEF Ocean, a Norway-based ocean space research institute, has joined the Global Center for Maritime Decarbonization (GCMD) as a knowledge partner.

According to the GCMD, the partnership with SINTEF Ocean will focus on complementary areas addressing adoption barriers to the use of ammonia as a marine fuel, onboard carbon capture and storage systems (OCCS), and energy efficiency technologies.

GCMD has also joined SINTEF Ocean’s research & development program FME MarTrans, an eight-year collaboration gathering 65 partners from the maritime industry. This is expected to be one of the world’s largest maritime research programs when it kicks off in January 2025.

FME MarTrans focuses on four key challenges in addressing the maritime sector’s greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions: support and integration, environmentally friendly fuel, energy systems onboard, and availability of fuels.

Sanjay Kuttan, Chief Strategy Officer in GCMD, said: “We are excited to welcome SINTEF Ocean as a Knowledge partner and work more closely with SINTEF Ocean. Collaboration is crucial in addressing the energy transition, especially within the diverse maritime industry. The challenges ahead to achieve net zero are too significant for any single organisation to tackle alone. As one of the overseas partners under the FME MarTrans, we are looking forward to refining problem statements and co-ideating projects to accelerate maritime decarbonisation.”

Arne Fredheim, Research Director in SINTEF Ocean, added: “These important long-term commitments build on mutual goals, challenges and a history of good collaboration between the maritime sectors in Norway and Singapore. The dialogue and exchange of knowledge with GCMD have been ongoing for some years already, and the match between the two organisations has proven so fruitful that we now want to strengthen the collaboration through joint projects.”

GCMD was established in 2021 and has conducted a number of pilot projects and trials to support decarbonization of the shipping industry.

One of the recent developments includes ammonia transfers that simulated bunkering operations in the Pilbara region. This is expected to help prepare the ecosystem for using ammonia as a marine fuel when ammonia-fueled vessels become available.

The center is also exploring a series of pilots to scale the adoption of energy efficiency technologies (EETs) in shipping through Pay-As-You-Save (PAYS), a third-party performance-based financing model that shares risks and rewards with stakeholders already deployed in other sectors.

In addition, GCMD is working on initiatives to unlock the carbon value chain and develop an assurance framework for drop-in green fuels.