North American maritime players form coalition to reach net zero

Ship owners, builders, charterers, financiers, classification organizations, port authorities, government and non-government organizations across the United States and Canada have come together to launch the Blue Sky Maritime Coalition.

As a non-profit strategic alliance whose members represent all aspects of the maritime value chain in North America, the coalition is developing and taking action on projects to achieve a commercially viable net zero emissions waterborne logistics sector.

Founding members include ABS, Bay Houston Towing Co., Caterpillar, Centerline Logistics, Chamber of Shipping of America, Citi, Crowley, Green Marine, Holland & Knight LLP, Kirby Corp., Lloyd’s Register, Marine Money, Marsoft Inc., MIT Sea Grant, Moran Towing, OSG, Port Houston, Purus Marine, Shell, The American Waterways Operators, The Water Institute of the Gulf, Vancouver Fraser Port Authority, Wärtsilä North American, Inc., and Washington Maritime Blue. Additionally, DNV, Matson and Seaspan are supporting sponsors, and the Getting to Zero Coalition is a knowledge partner of the coalition.

The maritime value chain is critical to the global economy and decarbonization is the key challenge the industry faces in the coming years. As the entire world takes on the global challenges of climate change, the maritime industry is both a very important, and very difficult sector to abate.

Even within this sector there are different types of challenges and entirely different value chain models, whether waterborne activities move products globally from one continent to another, or through thousands of miles of inland, Great Lakes and coastal waterways. Concentrated on regional waterborne transportation across North America, the coalition’s focus complements other organizations’ efforts targeting maritime decarbonization goals.

“Blue Sky Maritime Coalition was born from the realization that the United States and Canada maritime operations are uniquely challenged by this goal of reaching net zero carbon emissions from maritime activities,” David H. Cummins, Blue Sky Maritime Coalition President, commented.

“We believe that decarbonization is possible, but only if all stakeholders along this end-to-end value chain are willing to rally together to take advantage of the opportunities in this landscape and address these challenges through cross-sectoral collaboration.”