H2terminals Limited has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Cadent to supply hydrogen through the East London Hydrogen Pipeline to industrial users. This agreement marks another significant step forward in the Capital Hydrogen programme’s mission to develop hydrogen infrastructure in London and the Thames Estuary region.

The MOU outlines H2Terminals’ commitment to supply hydrogen produced at their innovative offshore Energy Island project.

Located within the North Sea’s 56th Quadrant, the facility will generate green hydrogen using wind, wave and solar energy. The hydrogen will be liquefied and transported by specialized vessels to terminals on the Thames Estuary, where it will be distributed via Cadent’s East London Hydrogen Pipeline to industrial users.

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Belgian specialist in remote-controlled shipping SEAFAR, with its project partners HGK Shipping GmbH and Reederei Deymann Gruppe, has set up Germany’s first remote-controlled inland waterway shipping centre.

The centre enables captains to navigate vessels on inland waterways from dry land. This technology, according to Seafar, is one way of countering the shortage of specialist workers.

Five inland waterway vessels have been equipped with technology that allows them to be operated from a control centre on dry land in Germany.

A motor vessel, tug-barge system, dry cargo barge and two chemical tankers are the first to have the technology installed, but any vessels, including workboats, could benefit, the project operators say.

The partners are working with the public authorities to use the permits for the test operations already underway in the lower Rhine area and earmark other navigation areas for this approach. They are currently involved in the application phase for route sections on the northwest German canal network, the Mittelland Canal, and other sections of the Rhine.

These concepts, which involve fewer crew members, are already being successfully used for different types of inland waterway vessels in Belgium and the Netherlands and some of them will be controlled from the new Seafar centre in Duisburg-Ruhrort.

The remote operations centre in Duisburg currently offers three workplaces for skippers to remotely control vessels and one workplace for the traffic controller, who also monitors the vessels’ movements and is the senior contact person.

The skippers can remotely navigate the inland waterway vessels via a system resembling a wheelhouse with the help of a camera system as if they were operating on the water.

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The UK government is set to deploy one of the Royal Navy’s two aircraft carriers to the Red Sea, replacing the USS Dwight D Eisenhower when it returns to the US. While there’s much in Britain’s defences to take issue with, it’s a reminder that London still plays a leading role on the international stage, providing security to our allies and plugging critical gaps with capabilities no-one else can provide.

The carrier will reinforce and strengthen the US-led coalition already deployed to theatre, taking position alongside HMS Diamond, the Type 45 Destroyer which has already won considerable plaudits for its sterling work defending international shipping against Houthi missiles and drones.

Both are needed. Beyond the activities of its Houthi proxies, Tehran is stepping up their campaign targeting global shipping and military bases across the Middle East.

Some 40 per cent of trade between Asia and Europe passes through the Red Sea, and currently risks disruption from Houthi attacks. Despite the repeated cuts to numbers and chronic under-investment, Britain is doing its part in a region where all of Europe has heavily vested interests in maintaining security. The rest of the continent is not.

When politicians and bureaucrats in Brussels, Paris and Berlin are openly speculating about the consequences of a second Trump administration in Washington for European security, and visibly fearful over the future of Nato, it is startling that they have offered so little assistance in securing the free flow of trade.

The European Union and its members are almost allergic to deploying hard military power at times when it is most needed, preferring instead to offer token deployments and avoid spending on defence. Even when their interests are directly threatened, even when it is in their own back garden, they are all too happy to sit back and let Britain and America do the heavy lifting.

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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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Swedish firm ScanOcean and Finnish oil refining and marketing company Neste Oyi have unveiled a new lower-emission DMA Gasoil for the shipping sector.

The new lower-emissions DMA is produced by adding renewable raw material into the conventional refining process and by using mass-balance the fuel attains high GHG emissions reducing benefits while maintaining the quality and specifications of the fuel to ISO 8217. The fuel is certified according to ISCC plus.
According to the partners, Neste Marine 0.1 Co-processed could reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by up to 80%, compared to fossil DMA Gasoil.

DMA co-processed with renewable raw materials will be available as bunker fuel on the Swedish east coast, Neste noted. Neste Marine 0.1 Co-processed DMA will also be available at the Södertälje ex-pipe facility together with DMA 0.1 and DMB 0.1, serving vessels in transit into Lake Mälaren.

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The UK government has announced a series of steps for the coming years to expand its Emission Trading Scheme, including for the first time bringing domestic shipping into the program. Experts highlight that it is another example of individual countries taking steps to reduce emissions in the lack of international agreements for industries such as shipping that reach beyond domestic borders.

The announcement that shipping will be required to participate in the program starting in 2026 comes as the International Maritime Organization struggles to reach a consensus at the ongoing International Maritime Organization’s Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC) meeting.

According to the announcement, the UK government chose to put the announcement out now to provide shipping and other industries time to begin planning for the changes that will begin in 2024 and be phased into the program over the next few years.

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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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Earlier this year National Maritime shared our plans with the Port of Dover to deliver a Blue Space Advanced Port, Energy & Logistics Centres (APELC) to support its ambition to become the world’s first high volume ‘Green Shipping Corridor’ and help deliver on the UK government’s ambition for clean maritime growth as part of the Department for Transport (DfT), United Kingdom (DfT), flagship Maritime 2050 strategy, the Clean Maritime Plan and the Clydebank Declaration announced in Glasgow at COP26.

So, it great to hear the Port announce its intent to become the world’s first high volume ‘Green Shipping Corridor’.

Yes, this will be a significant challenge but one that can be achieved and indeed, the answer may not be electric, but it will be green, and it will require the involvement of UK maritime industries and supply chains, as well sister Ports across the channel, local authorities, and leading academics to progress to make this ambition a reality.

National Maritime  APELC will work with marine, energy, and logistics industries from around the globe to create opportunities for research, innovation and production, and to facilitate the development of energy infrastructure from across multiple energy carriers within ports.

Recognised as leading innovative marine, energy, and logistics communities, APELC will provide access to a unique complex of industrial buildings, office suites and docks, and direct deep-water.

Each centre represents a unique opportunity to help deliver transformative benefits at scale across trade, investment and innovation, which could create new jobs and support the UK’s transition to net zero . They will also support ports objectives of improving energy infrastructure and choices to make energy systems more resilient to stabilise operating costs, all whilst meeting regulatory and community needs.

Furthermore, APELC will act as catalysts to help establish green corridors, specific trade routes between major ports hubs to demonstrate and support zero-emission solutions to achieve full decarbonisation of the shipping sector by 2050.

Zero emission ferries and vessels are one step closer to being a reality, as Maritime Minister Robert Courts confirmed £12 m funding to accelerate the research and development of zero emission maritime technologies.

The latest funding cements the UK’s position as world leaders in clean maritime technologies and supports the creation of thousands of skilled jobs across the UK.

The CMDC is one of the first initiatives from UK SHORE, a new unit launched to make the maritime sector greener. Dedicated to creating a world free from shipping emissions, UK SHORE will work with industry to tackle numerous shipping emission challenges.

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Tendered by the UK Ministry of Defence’s Salvage and Marine Operations (SALMO) Team, Braemar, a leading global shipbroker, has announced that it has signed a seven-year contract with the UK Ministry of Defence to provide worldwide shipbroking services across all commercial maritime sectors.

Under the contract, Braemar Shipping Services PLC will provide the MOD with access to its market-leading and highly regarded S&P, chartering and research departments across Braemar’s 14 global offices.

The seven-year contract encompasses all aspects of S&P, as well as spot and period chartering for routine and emergency response requirements globally.

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