Green future vision at SMM

Wärtsilä used the platform to present its Visions of Future Shipping, which were based on the effects increasingly tough environmental legislation to combat climate change will have on the industry.

“We accept the challenges created by the developments currently taking place. Wärtsilä is increasing its speed of reinvention so that the industry can be assured of having technologies ready and available to meet the new requirements,” said Roger Holm, president of Wärtsilä marine solutions.

The Vision of Future Shipping paper focuses on scenarios that could shape the way shipping is operated in the future.

First is the idea that shipping fleets could be operated in convoys to save up to 30% of emissions. Advanced communication technology could increase the sharing of information which would save time and optimise the allocation of cargo to vessels, ultimately providing fuel savings.

Another scenario is the creation of ‘floating distribution hubs’ along main shipping routes into ports which could produce emissions-free fuel from green solar or wind energy sources.

Wärtsilä hopes that battery energy density will increase substantially in the next few years which would allow ships to operate silently and with no exhaust emissions in sensitive or controlled areas.

It also believes the development of a digital tool that could access the same information by all global operators would lead to cargo sharing that container ships do not sail cargo-free and waste trips leading to unnecessary fuel use.