ION Geophysical Corporation’s Edinburgh-based Software group today announced the Company received a grant to advance port decarbonization through its climate-smart platform, Marlin SmartPort™. The grant supports the UK’s Ten Point Plan to address climate change and help achieve the country’s net-zero emissions target by 2050. The Data-Led Emissions Management (D-LEMA) project is part of the Clean Maritime Demonstration Competition, funded by the UK Department for Transport and delivered in partnership with Innovate UK. The 6-month pilot study will validate whether vessel fuel usage and carbon dioxide emissions can be reliably estimated in and around ports using the International Maritime Organization (IMO) global standard.
Announced in March 2020, and part of the Prime Minister’s Ten Point Plan to position the UK at the forefront of green shipbuilding and maritime technology, the Clean Maritime Demonstration Competition is a £20 million investment from government alongside a further ~£10 million from industry to reduce emissions from the maritime sector. The program is supporting 55 projects across the UK, including projects in Scotland, Northern Ireland and from the South West to the North East of England. As set out in the Clean Maritime Plan (2019), Government funding has been used to support early stage research relating to clean maritime. The program will be used to support the research, design and development of zero emission technology and infrastructure solutions for maritime and to accelerate decarbonization in the sector.
“Today approximately 90% of goods are transported by sea and global shipping accounts for nearly 3% of global CO 2 emissions,” said Stuart Darling,
Senior Vice President of ION’s Software group. “Our technology is focused on creating high value information that drives smarter, safer management of the 5,000+ ports globally and the 50,000+ cargo vessels that transit between them. This grant enables us to continue advancing our maritime digitalization platform, Marlin SmartPort, which integrates systems and data to provide better real-time visibility and actionable intelligence to operate with just-in-time efficiency, minimizing fuel consumption and emissions. Our goal is to develop and validate fuel monitoring capabilities to start tracking and, ultimately, to reduce port-related shipping emissions. On behalf of ION, I would like to thank our project partners, Plymouth Marine Laboratory, who will supply the data, and the Offshore Renewable Energy Catapult, who will assist with the analysis.”
Source: Hellenic Shipping News
