UK launches low-carbon shipping group
Industry and universities are partnering in a UK low carbon shipping programme
The BMT Group consultancy says that it is one of the partners involved in a new three year UK research project aimed at limiting the environmental impact of carbon emissions from the world’s shipping systems.
The research project, ‘Low carbon shipping – a systems approach’ is intended to help the shipping industry to reduce levels of emissions in order to comply with new legislation and mitigate global warming. The project has received £1.7million from the Research Councils UK (RCUK) Energy Programme. BMT says that 90% of goods arrive in the UK by ship and current estimates show shipping’s share of global emissions could increase to 20%-30% by 2050.
BMT will be involved in two main work packages: firstly, in technologies for low carbon shipping (including innovation in retrofit solutions), and secondly, in energy efficient ship operations (including human factors).
Other partners in the project are Shell, Rolls Royce, Lloyds Register, UK MoD, Lloyd’s Register Fairplay, James Fisher, David MacBrayne, the UK Major Ports Group and Clarksons, while academic partners are University College London, Newcastle University, University of Hull, University of Strathclyde and University of Plymouth.
BMT claims to be well placed to play a leading role, thanks to its track record in on-board performance monitoring of fuel efficiency and emissions, energy efficiency design indexing, performance impacts of hull roughness and fouling and the design and engineering of more efficient propulsion plant.
Dr Phil Thompson, sector director for transport at BMT Group, said “This is a very exciting opportunity to make a real difference to the design and operation of ships. We have to drive down costs and we have to drive down emissions. We at BMT are delighted to be using our experience in such an important research project by developing innovative design solutions. After all, a more efficient ship is a greener ship.”
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