Smaller green shipping corridors have greater potential - MMMCZCS

There is hidden potential in smaller green shipping corridor, Gitte Livbjerg, head of fuel concepts at the Mærsk Mc-Kinney Møller Center for Zero Carbon Shipping (MMMCZCS) said in a webinar today.

PHOTO: Model of a liquid hydrogen carrier. Getty Images

Livbjerg explained that the centre's most developed green corridors are still stuck in the feasibility stage. “No green corridors have been fully implemented so far. Smaller projects might be easier to implement. This way we can focus on volume and implement a larger number of corridors for CO2 abatement.”

Johan Byskov Svendsen, the centre's program manager, added that there was more value in ten smaller green shipping corridor projects than a single large one. “Smaller projects provide learning in a range of areas, rather than a very large project that provides learning only for a limited investment segment.”

Under the MMMCZCS green corridor methodology, the pre-feasibility study phase for green corridor projects roughly takes nine months. “There is a screening of the proposed area in the pre-feasibility to check which projects for alternative fuels are either existing or upcoming. The pre-feasibility assessment is agnostic on technology and fuel,” Livbjerg noted.  

This is followed by the feasibility phase, which lasts 8-16 months, depending on the project’s complexity. This phase focuses on determining the optimal marine fuel for the green corridor project and may take longer to decide, according to Svendsen. “One of the prime challenges clients face in the feasibility phase is the choice of fuel. They don’t know what fuel type to invest in,” Svendsen found. 

Citing data from the Getting to Zero coalition, Svendsen mentioned that there are currently 44 green corridor projects announced. Half of these are stuck in either the pre-feasibility or feasibility phases, with the more developed ones in the feasibility phase. 

Svendsen said the three most developed green corridor projects in the MMMCZCS portfolio are still in the feasibility phase. One of these corridor projects, Chile Cu-Concentrate, is part of the larger Chilean Green Corridors Network, Svendsen said. 

By Manjula Nair

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