Green Seas: A podcast by TradeWinds

Shipping could face more legal risks as it gears up to comply with FuelEU Maritime, the latest round of carbon rules that Brussels has foisted on the industry. We talk to Watson Farley & Williams regulatory lawyers Nick Walker and Valentina Keys about the minefield ahead for the industry.

Di Gilpin has been on a 20-year journey to prove modern wind propulsion can work in shipping. She finally got to see testing of a prototype wingsail by her company Smart Green Shipping on a vessel in the UK this month.

She talks to TradeWinds technology editor Craig Eason about her motivation, how she collaborates with others and, importantly, how she now plans to commercialise her dream.

FuelEU Maritime, which will impose gradually tightening carbon-intensity limits on shipping, is nearly upon us. As Brussels’ newest carbon regulation looms, we check in with two digital technology companies that are helping their customers prepare. We talk to Geir Olafsen, chief digital officer at Siglar Carbon, and Bobby Morse, associate director of products at Veson Nautical. Is shipping ready, and what does it need to do to get there?

The podcast travels to the TradeWinds Shipowners Forum Japan, where Julian Bray led a live panel discussion to explore shipping’s path toward lower-carbon fuels. We hear from Michihiko “Mike” Nakano of Asahi Tanker and e5 Lab, Oystein Kalleklev of Flex LNG and Avance Gas, Andrew Hoare of Fortescue Marine Systems and Green Shipping and Hiroyoshi Kubo of Mitsui OSK Lines.

With backers that include shipowner Navigator Gas, Ten08 Energy is working to line up commercial contracts to build its planned ammonia plant, and shipping looks to be a big part of the customer base. The company wants to make green ammonia, but it is mostly focused on the blue version of the fuel, which is produced from fossil fuels with carbon capture. We spoke to chief executive Jean Perarnaud in Houston.

We travel to Houston to find out why projects that want to provide low-carbon fuels to shipping and other industries are in the slow lane two years after the Inflation Reduction Act promised to inject optimism, and cash, into the sector.

We interviewed Jeff Pollack of the Port of Corpus Christi, Gregory Dolan of the Methanol Institute, Rebecca Boudreaux of Oberon Fuels, Jean Perarnaud of Ten08 Energy and Mark Brownstein of the Environmental Defense Fund.

Photo: Scanpix

Decisions by crew members can have an impact on a ship’s greenhouse gas footprint, but how do motivate seafarers to make the right choices? Tech start-up Signol believes it has the answer: using the tools of behavioural science,

We talk to the company’s Michael Fanning, Divya Sukumar and Harriett Hunnisett-Johnson.

Container ship operators have taken a variety of paths to tackle emissions, but they are united on one thing: a proposed regulation called the green balance mechanism. We talk to Simon Bergulf of AP Moller-Maersk and Bryan Wood-Thomas of the World Shipping Council.

Photo: Vincent Clerc/Maersk

TradeWinds technology editor Craig Eason speaks to MAN Energy Solutions head of two-stroke business Bjarne Foldager about meeting increased demand for dual-fuel engines, getting licensees to ramp up production, the growing interest in ammonia as a fuel and how long an engine conversion takes.

In his first year on the job, International Maritime Organization secretary general Arsenio Dominguez has confronted two major sustainability challenges facing shipping: decarbonisation and the violence in the Red Sea, which threatens an oil spill and endangers mariners. He spoke to TradeWinds editor-in-chief Julian Bray at the Shipowners’ Forum Germany.