The wind assist technologies are all important tools for decarbonisation. However, energy consumption is not confined only to what drives a vessel through the water. Cooling systems and auxiliary power also draw on a finite energy budget. By helping to maintain crew areas just a few degrees cooler, coatings can significantly influence energy use onboard. Coating decisions for decks and superstructures are often made with little consideration for energy consumption, and the claims made for their efficacy often lack solid evidence. Nippon Paint Marine works directly with shipowners to close that gap, using in-service operational data to show exactly how […]

Ask any captain or chief engineer what is weighing on them right now, and growing administrative paperwork will come up. The latest Seafarers Happiness Index, published by The Mission to Seafarers, put workload management at 6.20 out of 10 for the second quarter of 2026, one of the lowest scores in the survey, with captains and chief engineers registering the steepest declines as administrative and regulatory reporting demands increase. This increasing administrative burden is happening when the maritime industry is asking crews to operate a wider range of energy and propulsion technologies than ever before, often for the first time, […]

The Head of the International Energy Agency (IEA) Fatih Barol has described the ongoing disruption in the Strait of Hormuz as ‘the largest supply disruption in the history of the global oil market’. What started with US and Israeli air strikes against Iran in February 2026 to try and induce a regime change, has led to a sequence of consequences which has had a global impact. At the time of writing this article in September, a trickle of ships are leaving and entering the Persian Gulf (mainly tankers) with many of those associated with the shadow or alternative fleet, but […]

U.S. ports have become proving grounds for the next phase of the maritime energy transition. Port Houston completed the nation’s first ship to ship methanol bunkering operation earlier this year. The Port of Long Beach is offering a $1 million prize to attract its first commercial methanol bunkering call. Seattle and Tacoma are developing a methanol bunker barge and the operational knowledge needed to support future supply. Each initiative addresses a different part of the same market challenge. Ships need reliable fuel, producers need credible demand and infrastructure providers need enough certainty to invest. Ports can help connect those interests […]

In September, discussions resumed at the International Maritime Organization (IMO) on measures to reduce the sector’s greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Those measures were packaged into a Net Zero Framework (NZF) agreed in April 2025, but a vote on the adoption of the measures was delayed by one year due to pressure from a coalition of fossil fuel exporting countries. With talks well underway ahead of what could be a decisive meeting of the IMO’s Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC) in early December 2026, a range of potential NZF designs remain on the table. Among those are framework designs which would […]