The inaugural Bunkering & Sustainability Forum, held in March in Tenerife, the largest of the Canary Islands, examined the current and future availability of traditional and alternative fuels at island and mid-sized ports, and the infrastructure and maritime facilities required to support them. For such ports, a ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach to fuel supply – both conventional and emerging – is not practical.Many smaller ports do not have a local fuel supply and must import 100% of their fuel needs. While storage and delivery facilities for traditional fuels are generally available, this is not yet the case for new fuels such as […]

The Strait of Hormuz has spent years being described as the world’s most important choke point that never quite manages to choke. Periodically, it flares up just enough to remind markets of its importance before settling back into something resembling normality, albeit with slightly higher insurance premiums and a renewed respect for geography. It has, in other words, developed a reputation for being dramatic without being particularly decisive. This time, however, it appears to have decided that reputation was no longer entirely satisfactory.Iran’s early March declaration, followed by mines, confirmed vessel strikes and a sharp collapse in transit volumes, has […]

The year 2020 saw the initiation of the reduction of the global sulphur limit in marine fuel to 0.50% (from 3.50%), requiring ships outside Emission Control Areas (ECAs) to use cleaner, low-sulphur fuel or scrubbers, while existing sulphur oxide (SOx) ECAs – and new ones such as the Mediterranean (effective 1 May 2025), Canadian Arctic and Norwegian Sea (effective 1 March 2027) – are capped at a stricter 0.10% limit.Despite the clear cap, over five years on, testing for sulphur emissions can be categorised as sporadic and inconsistent at best. In the European Union (EU) alone, testing in 2024 revealed […]

After a decade of record investment in vessel efficiency and decarbonisation technologies, many operators are finding that volatile weather, geopolitical disruption, regulatory uncertainty and shifting trade routes are eroding the returns.The shipping industry has now entered an era where adaptation, supported by real-time intelligence, will determine who protects time, fuel and commercial performance – and who sees efficiency gains disappear amid operational disruption.For the most part, shipping’s decarbonisation story has been told through the lens of technical efficiency. New hull forms, propulsion upgrades, alternative fuels and digital performance tools have helped fleets reduce fuel consumption and emissions on a per-voyage […]

For most of my career, decarbonisation in shipping has been spoken about as a distant target, something for 2050 strategies and future fuels. Yet change is already underway, and nowhere is it moving faster than in the short-sea and passenger sectors.Ferries, cruise ferries and RoPax vessels operate on fixed timetables and well-defined routes. They are the arteries of coastal economies, carrying millions of passengers and vehicles every year. Because of that predictability and because guests, crews and local communities increasingly demand cleaner air, they will be the first to go fully electric. The Physics DecidesThe choice of fuel is often […]