Strong interest in talks on the maritime transition

One of the starting points for the seminar was that cross-industry cooperation is needed for shipping’s transition to succeed. The moderator was Björn Samuelsson, researcher at Uppsala University.

“We see great opportunities and solutions for the transition of shipping, but the fact is that 99.98% of all ships in service today are fossil fuel powered. Among the ships under construction, the corresponding figure is 99.97%. There is a lot going on right now – but we need to pick up the pace if the climate goals are to be achieved,” began Björn Samuelsson, before the first panel was welcomed on stage.

What do climate targets mean for shipping?

The first panel included Fredrik Larsson from the Swedish Shipping Association, Svante Axelsson, National Coordinator at Fossil Free Sweden, and Åsa Burman, Head of Operations at Lighthouse. The panelists emphasized the importance of an accelerated transition – especially if we are to have a chance of achieving the climate goals, and agreed that the scale of the transition is enormous – but it is going too slowly, and here it was particularly highlighted that the state and the public sector should take the lead and show the way.

“It’s not unclear what the industry wants – it’s just that there is a lack of political delivery to make it happen,” said Fredrik Larsson.

Some of the panel saw more radical measures such as banning internal combustion engines as distant, especially now that shipping is included in the EU Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS).
Svante Axelsson, on the other hand, said it’s a bit like “banning the fax machine, how radical is that”. “The technology is in place, capital is knocking on the door and yet we are still stumbling along”, was the conclusion of the first block of the seminar.

One size does not fit all

The second block of the seminar focused on the different solutions developed by the three shipping companies Stena, Wallenius and Gotlandsbolaget. Per Tunell from Wallenius clarified that the major drivers for their concept of sailing vessels, Ocean Bird, are both the ongoing climate change as well as a business opportunity. Claes Berglund from Stena AB explained more about their investment in battery-powered vessels – Stena Elektra, which is seen as “a future-proofing”.

Håkan Johansson presented the Gotland company’s investment in the Horizon series, where fossil-free hydrogen is seen as the primary fuel – but where other fossil-free fuels may also be relevant depending on availability. One conclusion is that there are many different solutions for different parts of shipping, but shipping is incredibly energy intensive and until all the necessary infrastructure for fossil-free fuels has been scaled up, biofuels will be an important intermediate step in the transition.

Developing energy systems to meet growing energy demand

A natural consequence of the transition is an increased need for fossil-free energy. The question of how the energy system should be developed to enable the transition was discussed during the third block of the seminar. Participants included Hillevi Priscar from OX2, Sara Hugestam from Energiforsk and Kajsa Ryttberg-Wallgren from H2 Green Steel.

The audience learned from the experiences of OX2 and H2 Green Steel, about how they handled permit processes and applications. Sluggish permitting processes were identified as an obstacle to scaling up energy production to the level needed to meet the volumes required by shipping.

The right policy environment to accelerate the transition

In the fourth and final part of the seminar, the participants from the first panel, together with Johan Davidson, State Secretary to the Minister for Infrastructure, and Per Bolund, spokesperson for the Green Party, discussed how policy should create the right conditions for the transition to be accelerated, including by creating the right incentives for companies to dare to invest.

For those who missed the seminar, you can watch it in full here.