In this episode, BV’s maritime head details why he believes that shipping needs ‘radical ideas’ to achieve its decarbonisation targets. 

Speaking after the publication of his second book, titled Toward a sustainable blue economy, in which he calls for ‘a revolution in how we finance, fuel and operate the global fleet’, Matthieu de Tugny outlines what this looks like in practice. 

He offers some avenues to reinvent the current economics behind investment and funding decisions in shipping, which are generally geared towards proven technology – often conventional fossil fuels – and tend to incentivise shipowners to ‘sit back and wait’.

Describing green financing as a ‘structural enabler’ of decarbonisation, he shares his views on the impact of initiatives such as the Poseidon Principles and the Sea Cargo Charter, and explains what more can be done by regulators to give a competitive advantage to first movers and bring more certainty on broader infrastructure and supply chain investments. 

Matthieu de Tugny also shares his advice for owners of smaller fleets or vessels operated on tramp trades. Whilst acknowledging that those companies are unlikely to become early adopters of new fuels such as ammonia or methanol, he emphasised the importance of incremental progress delivered by efficiency improvements or transition fuels such as biofuels.

He reflects on how classification societies are set to be transformed by shipping’s decarbonisation transition, helping mitigate risk around new fuels and technologies and taking on a more advisory role. 

Finally, he shares his views on the potential applications of artificial intelligence (AI) to optimise the performance and maintenance of fleets, and explains why he believes that training could be the most important challenge for the industry going forward.