EU shipowners, fuel producers join on maritime fuels platform

The Clean Maritime Fuels Platform – a new industry initiative – is aiming to enhance communication between the shipping sector and fuel producers to identify common challenges, considering the implementation of the Fit for 55 package and the transition to a net-zero economy by 2050.

Representatives from the ECSA, FuelsEurope, eFuel Alliance, EWABA, Hydrogen Europe and Methanol Institute held their first meeting last week, to set out shared objectives and the working principles of the platform. 

Access to clean maritime fuels is a top priority for shipping’s decarbonisation. The recently published Draghi report on the future of European competitiveness identifies shipping as one of the most difficult sectors to decarbonise, requiring around €40Bn in annual investments between 2031 and 2050. The EU has limited installed capacity for renewable or low-carbon fuel production and requires significant scaling of its supply chain for clean fuels. 

As the current supply chain and technology stands, clean fuels pose unattractive trade-offs between fuel costs and freight revenues.

Producing cleaner fuels remains expensive. Clean fuels produced by renewable energy currently increase fuel costs by four to nine times, as compared with fossil-based fuels, while synthetic fuels produced using fossil fuels increase fuel costs by two to five times.

In addition, because cleaner fuels currently have lower energy densities on a volumetric basis as compared with fossil fuels, ships using these have to install bigger tanks to travel the same distance, with less space for cargo and lower revenues.

Members of the new Clean Maritime Fuels Platform said they began discussing the topic of infrastructure gaps. The platform is expected to focus on policy making to support the production and uptake of clean maritime fuels in Europe, including areas such as maritime in EU ETS and funding opportunities.

The forum will hold regular meetings with ECSA, taking care of the secretariat’s tasks. 

ECSA secretary general Sotiris Raptis said, “Today, the shipping and energy industry join forces and launch a dialogue platform that can facilitate a better flow of information about the common challenges we are facing. We need all hands on deck to make the energy transition happen. To meet our targets, we need clean fuels available in the market in sufficient quantities, at an affordable price. European shipowners are proud to launch, with the fuel producers, the Clean Maritime Fuels Platform.”

“The platform will explore the opportunities and challenges of the production, supply and use of renewable and low-carbon maritime fuels. This collaboration will help both our industries to be at the forefront in contributing to the Fit for 55 and Green Deal objectives while continuing to thrive in the global market place”, added director general of Fuels Europe, Liana Gouta.