Carbon cuts a huge challenge for shipping industry; can it be electrified?

The challenge, however, is to find viable alternative fuels for ships. Clean Air Task Force research has pointed out that while ammonia remains a likely option for replacing oil for shipping fuel, it would be 3X as costly. The costs will be ultimately passed on to consumers. Synthetic fuels and biofuel blends were also seen as some of the alternatives for fossil fuel but would still contribute to carbon emissions while being costlier than shipping fuel at the same time and thus can only play a transitionary role.

“Most of the solutions we’ve read about and seen will all wind up costing the consumer more,” Steven Henderson, Co-Founder of Fleetzero said. “Either they use a fuel that is a derivative of a fuel we use today, or it’s a fuel that is going to cost more.”

With a lack of viable alternative fuels, and the rising impetus to reduce its greenhouse emissions, the industry is increasingly looking towards electric batteries. Pressure from larger corporations like Amazon, IKEA, Patagonia, Michelin and Unilever is also pushing global shipping to move to zero-carbon emissions by 2040.

While most modern ships are partly electric -- the ship’s transmission being powered by an electric motor that itself is powered by a diesel engines -- the technological hurdle remains in scaling up batteries for ships. The hurdle of using electric motors for ships is that batteries need time to recharge and ships often do not have enough time at port to recharge their batteries quickly enough.

For now, electric ships have mostly been relegated to smaller passenger vessels and ferries that run for smaller distances. Giant container ships longer than the Eiffel Tower, however, need much more energy than what today’s battery infrastructure can achieve.

But a new solution is quickly emerging -- battery swapping. Instead of recharging batteries on the ships themselves, ships may be able to switch out their large batteries in port for fresh batteries in order to reduce turnaround time.

More research is needed before the shipping industry as a whole can be electrified but increased pressure and investments from large companies can hasten the process considerably.