Maritime transport: startups as a driver of innovation

Global maritime transport is moving toward a digital and environmental transition with particularly ambitious objectives, where not all the technical solutions are available yet. Faced with this unprecedented challenge, innovation and agility within startups play a decisive role.

Sulphur oxide, nitrogen oxide and CO₂ emissions are increasingly regulated and therefore restrictive, in order to ensure greener maritime transport. The latest regulation to have impacted maritime transport is the '2020 Global Sulphur Cap', set up by the International Maritime Organization (IMO). In force since 1 January 2020, the regulation imposes a limit on the sulphur content of fuels used by ships at 0.5% (previously 3.5%) in all the world's seas.

There will be more regulations on nitrogen oxide emissions from shipping, which account for more than 17% of global emissions. These will be more restrictive in controlled emission zones from 1 January 2021.

The IMO also plans to reduce CO₂ emissions per metric tonne transported by 40% by 2030, compared with 2008, and to reduce total annual CO₂ emissions by at least 50% by 2050, compared with 2008.

A real technical & technological challenge

These regulations represent a real technical and technological challenge for the entire sector. It is a challenge that the major shipping companies cannot take on by themselves. The 'greenest' technical solutions are based on alternative energies such as hydrogen or synthetic fuels, which present challenges in terms of production, storage, and motorisation. Accelerating the maturity of zero-emission solutions requires coordinated action by all the links in the chain: energy producers, shipyards, engine manufacturers, etc. In this context, forging strong partnerships with startups is the key to bringing about breakthrough innovations.

Are these innovations possible within large groups?

All companies talk about innovation, regardless of their size. But this approach is, in fact, very difficult to implement. Because the more societies grow, the more international they become, and the more they subject themselves to processes which, as they grow, become more complex. In order to deliver the results expected of them, they are also led to take greater risks and their governance becomes less agile. The very size and organisation of middle-market companies and large groups can therefore represent structural and ontological obstacles to innovation. However, the latter comes from people capable of thinking outside the box, beyond the rules and established processes, and steering away from any conformism. Innovation is the result of periods of time spent on crossroads, far from short-term objectives, exercising their right to make mistakes.

Why work with startups?

One of the first benefits for large groups of working with startups is therefore how they can sustain their capacity to engage in a process of continuous innovation. Thanks to their agile mode of operation and their disruptive approach, fresh players on the scene shake up habits, ways of thinking and certainties. They stimulate creativity, lead companies to explore new ideas and push them to give the best of themselves.

What innovations do Bluetech startups bring?

For example, the innovations of these startups improve engine efficiency and reduce methane leakage. They also save time on acquiring new technologies.

One example is the German startup Fuelsave, which is developing technology to improve engine efficiency, specifically combustion. The startup has developed a solution for optimising engine efficiency.

This includes patented, gaseous, and liquid injection mechanisms where FUELSAVE is dynamically injecting hydrogen, oxygen, water & methanol, according to the load of the engine in different quantities and combinations.

This technology has been field and lab proven with heavy fuel oils and marine diesel and can also be useful in eliminating the methane slip from LNG engines

This innovation is typically the result of the disruptive work of a startup. It would most likely not have been able to see the light of day within a large group. It is essential to think outside the box to design such optimizations and apply methods of ideation without limits.

One example is the German startup Fuelsave, which is developing technology to improve engine efficiency, specifically combustion. The startup has developed a solution for optimising motor efficiency. This consists in an on-board hydrogen generator and various processes for injecting gas — including methanol — and liquid water. This technology can be useful in managing unburned methane leaks from engines when they are not properly tuned.

Shift, a multimodal eco-calculator for greener routes

But startups also enable large groups to strengthen their ability to quickly experiment with new products and new fields. One example is the Searoutes startup that offers Shift, an eco-calculator that calculates the greenest route for a container from point A to point B. The solution takes into account the schedule of the transporters and the most relevant parameters in calculating CO2 emissions, such as fuel, distances, speed, weather at sea, etc. Shift also allows users to calculate the cheapest and shortest route according to the services of the different transporters, and thus enables its customers to make the best decisions.

A mutually beneficial collaboration

Startup founders and their teams help large companies to think about problems differently and, on a more general level, to find new sources of growth to sustain their activities. They provide them with a flexibility and agility that large groups have often lost, due to their very structure.

In return, large groups can make their experience, networks, financial resources and, above all, human resources available to startups. There can also be exchanges around an idea, advice when initiating a product, etc. This can thus give rise to the commercial launch of joint offers, as well as joint research projects.

The range of possibilities is endless. It is all the more so because the teams working together on both sides will have the common desire to invent new offers and bring new products to market. Collaboration between large groups and startups is not new, but in our context (global warming, technological acceleration, etc.), they are brought together now more than ever.

As we can see, developing mutually beneficial collaborations between large companies and startups is a virtuous circle that must be carefully developed and perpetuated.

By Philippe Berterottière, CEO of GTT (Gaztransport & Technigaz) and Matthieu Somekh, CEO of ZEBOX.

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