Associated British Ports are hosting a Procurement Day to connect with businesses that can support their upcoming infrastructure and construction works across the Humber region.

Aimed at companies who need to be aware of upcoming infrastructure projects, the day will be split into a morning and afternoon session. Each session will begin with an overview of the 2025 infrastructure pipeline and follow with an opportunity to talk to members of the ABP in one to one discussions. ABP are keen to hold two way conversations with suppliers covering market expectations, project success including progamme value, sustainability and social value.

There are nine projects coming up ranging from warehouses, to paving, electrification, quay strengthening and mechanical handling, etc across the next two years with an overall spend of around £150 million.

One of the projects is around the first phase of developing the strategic land at Stallingborough, between the Ports of Grimsby and Immingham. The largest port operator in the UK completed the purchase of the freehold of the 227.5-acre site in December 2023 signalling a commitment to its new property strategy.

To register for the event head to their Eventbrite page

The Department for Transport (DfT), United Kingdom has launched the third year of the £7 million Freight Innovation Fund Accelerator to deliver innovative tech across the industry to decarbonise freight and boost the UK supply chain as part of the government’s plan to grow the economy.

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) can receive up to £1.8 million in government funding to support the freight sector in deploying cutting-edge AI technology and automation to improve the way trains, lorries, vans, and ships carry parcels and goods.

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Britain will implement a new carbon import levy on some products from 2027 to help to protect businesses against cheaper imports from countries with less strict climate policies.

The planned carbon border adjustment mechanism (CBAM) will apply to carbon-intensive products in the iron, steel, aluminium, fertiliser, hydrogen, ceramics, glass and cement sectors.

The charge applied will depend on the amount of carbon emitted in the production of the imported good and any gap between the carbon price applied in the country of origin and the carbon price faced by UK producers.

“This levy will make sure carbon intensive products from overseas – like steel and ceramics – face a comparable carbon price to those produced in the UK, so that our decarbonisation efforts translate into reductions in global emissions,” finance minister Jeremy Hunt said.

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Britain will implement a new carbon import levy on some products from 2027 to help to protect businesses against cheaper imports from countries with less strict climate policies.

The planned carbon border adjustment mechanism (CBAM) will apply to carbon-intensive products in the iron, steel, aluminium, fertiliser, hydrogen, ceramics, glass and cement sectors.

The charge applied will depend on the amount of carbon emitted in the production of the imported good and any gap between the carbon price applied in the country of origin and the carbon price faced by UK producers.

“This levy will make sure carbon intensive products from overseas – like steel and ceramics – face a comparable carbon price to those produced in the UK, so that our decarbonisation efforts translate into reductions in global emissions,” finance minister Jeremy Hunt said.

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The British and Danish electricity grids are physically connected for the first time, following the completion of cable works on the Viking Link interconnector.

The final section of the state-of-art-high voltage subsea cable, which joins Bicker Fen in Lincolnshire with Jutland in Denmark, was completed offshore in the North Sea by Prysmian’s Cable Laying Vessel ‘Leonardo da Vinci’ and its team.

The £1.7 billion (€2 billion) project is a joint venture between National Grid and Danish system operator Energinet. It will be the world’s longest land and subsea interconnector – stretching for 475 miles between the two countries. Due to be complete by the end of the year, it will enable the sharing of enough green electricity to power 1.4 million UK homes.

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Harland & Wolff has established a new subsidiary in Aberdeen as it looks to capitalise on opportunities in the energy sector.

Harland & Wolff (Technologies) (HWT) will operate in conjunction with the listed group’s four delivery centres across the UK while working independently and directly with the company’s clients in other shipyards.

It is good to see that the vastly experienced Richard Davidson has been appointed with immediate effect as managing director of the new HWT subsidiary. H&W said Davidson brings with him over three decades of experience in the energy and maritime markets and has been instrumental in introducing and commercialising new technologies centred around propulsion and fuels.

In his last role with Echandia, Richardson was responsible for developing and monetising large scale battery technologies for the marine market.

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Dutch energy storage systems provider EST-Floattech | Energy Storage Solutions is contracted to provide battery systems for the world’s first fully electric carbon-neutral event vessel, the Oceandiva London, which enters service on the River Thames later this year or early 2024.

The 86 meters long and 17 meters wide vessels batteries are charged by both green fast-charging shore power and onboard solar panels, with a biofuel generator as back up for longer excursions. The Green Orca system is made up of two lithium battery packs with a total capacity of 2.2 MWh.

The ship is part of the NET ZERO MARINE SERVICES (NZMS) program to decarbonise London’s river.

The new event vessel was designed for the British events company Smart Group Ltd by Amsterdam-based company Oceandiva – which operates similar ships in the Netherlands, Germany and Belgium. The vessel was built by VEKA Group of Werkendam, the Netherlands. Electrical system integrator Werkina Werkendam commissioned EST-Floatech for the energy solution.

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This week high-level talks began at the International Maritime Organization how to clean up an industry that carries more than 80% of world trade — and spews more carbon dioxide into the Earth’s atmosphere each year than Germany.

This week’s talks are part of a long and slow-moving series of international meetings about what green goals the industry should aim for, and how it might get there.

By the end of this week there should be a major new target, though exactly how that’s phrased is yet to be decided. A draft document seen by Bloomberg News on Friday had the industry agreeing to try and reach net zero “around” 2050.

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The largest vessel to reach central Leeds for 30 years could take more than 5,000 lorries off the road each year.

With just two return trips by canal each week between the Humber ports and Leeds, the MMS Off-Roader barge could make a significant contribution to reducing carbon emissions and improving road safety, its owners say.

MMS Off-Roader was originally built as a petroleum barge by Yorkshire Dry Dock.

She was purchased by MMS, which is based in Alexandra Dock in Hull, in December 2021, with naval architects engaged to redesign the barge to carry bulk loads. Each 500 tonne load can take up to 25 lorries off roads.

They are offering a demonstration run to anyone who is considering transporting goods by barge. The vessel can carry a huge range from cans of dog meat through wood pellets to containers and the accommodation is “fabulous”.

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The Transport Committee has urged the UK government to change its approach towards backing specific technology solutions to decarbonise the UK’s transport sector, or risk failing its targets for cutting emissions.

The Government has set a number of targets to decarbonise different sections of the transport sector over the next 30 years. But the Department for Transport (DfT), United Kingdom has chosen to take a neutral stance on which technologies it believes industry should focus on developing, in order for those carbon-cutting targets to be achievable.

In its ‘Fuelling the Future’ report, published 2 March, the cross-party Committee makes recommendations on the following modes of transport, whilst also urging the Government to move beyond its “deliberately technology agnostic” mindset, as stated in its 2019 Technology Innovation Strategy.

In July 2019, the Government published its Clean Maritime Plan which committed to achieving zero-emission shipping by 2050. Progress with decarbonising Maritime is likely to be slower than other transport modes due to the wide variety of vessels in use throughout the world’s jurisdictions, meaning it will be challenging to reach an international consensus. And because ships often have a 30-year lifespan, it will take time to phase out vessels with obsolete technology.

The report recommends the Government should support the (IMO) International Maritime Organization work to develop global standards for construction that will enable new ships to utilise alternative fuels such as ammonia and hydrogen.

The UK should also use its influence at the IMO to ensure that, globally, the path forward for investors in alternative maritime fuels becomes more secure.

Ammonia could prove to be another effective alternative as it is zero emission at point of use, requires less storage space than hydrogen, and can be used with existing liquid natural gas infrastructure. Batteries are likely to prove too big, heavy and carbon intensive to produce to make them viable for long-distance freight shipping.

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