Aronnax

In this episode of the Aronnax Show, Craig Eason talks to Mark Cameron, Chief Operating Officer at Irish shipowner Ardmore Shipping about the company's unusual decision to launch a join venture commercial enterprise looking to marinise methanol reformers for shipping. The technology takes liquid methanol and makes hydrogen which can be fed into a PEM fuel cell. The company believes this technology...

Last week there were two noticeable announcements from shipping companies about the types of ships they are going to, or to be accurate could be, ordering in the future, and these were noticeable as these two vessels were a methanol powered container ship and a wind powered deep sea car carrier. As we see the drive to decarbonise society and the shipping industry there is pressure on many sides fo...

In the first episode of 2021 we hear about the TransZero Partnership between the Port of Göteborg, Stena Line, Scania and Volvo, especially the decision by the Swedish shipowner to build a pair of battery powered freight and passenger vessels to sail across from the Swedish Port to Denmark. We also look at the potential of ammonia production to meet shipping's potential demand for the fuel, provid...

This particular podcast episode looks at two stories that have been in the news. One deals with changing definition of seamanship in connection with the technologies, and the other the search for technologies to help seafarers. First we have an academic paper published in Norway (NTNU) which has raised the question about what seamanship is ….and whether it is the right word to be using in modern s...

This show is all about greenwashing, and in particular a drive coming out of Norway to get companies, all companies, to be more honest about the environmental impact of their products and services. Greenwashing is not a Norwegian issue, but there is one organisation in Norway that has now got a few hundred companies to sign a pledge to adhere to ten key principles of greenwashing. SKIFT is a membe...

The International Maritime Industry, through the environmental protection committee is working to find agreement on how to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions of shipping. It is difficult as member states send representatives to toe a particular political line, making compromise hard. However it is not impossible, but progress is slow (which annoys the green lobby groups) and the debate sometimes...

In this episode of Aronnax, host Craig Eason is in France (albeit remotely) to talk to two people working in the field of wind-powered systems to see what can make shipping a more attractive industry for today's young professional. Is shipping sexy enough for the millennials that are today's university graduates and tomorrow's game changers. He asks a naval architect and project manager, SImon Wat...

In this episode we start with a look at ITF concerns about the use of ships' crews, who may be stranded onboard due to Covid restrictions, performing safety related survey s. We hear from Odd Rune Malterud, co-author of the ITF report "Beyond the Limit" about what needs to change, and to DNV GL's maritime CEO Knut Ørbeck-Nilssen about the value of being able to do remote surveys and so keep ships...

The European Parliament voted on amendments to a proposal that will have sweeping implications. Craig Eason, Editorial Director at Fathom. World the shipping and maritime news portal speaks to Martin Dorsman at the European Community Shipowners' Associations, which represents national shipowner associations in policy issues in Brussels. Craig also talks to Jasper Faber, maritime specialist at CE D...

Craig Eason speaks to Jutta Paulus, Green MEP about her push to include shipping in Europe's emission trading scheme, as well as her proposal to force existing ships to improve efficiency by 40% by 2030. He also talks to Adam Berman (International Emissions Trading Association) to explain how the ETS works, what impact shipping's introduction may have on other sectors and finds out what he has hea...

 This is our last episode before a summer break, and we have the last of the three episodes looking at the development of autonomous ships and autonomous vessel systems. We have heard about the commercial projects and the development of international regulations earlier, but not all the technologies on autonomous vessel systems are bound for vessels that need to company with the international...

This is the second of our short series of Aronnax episodes looking at the evolution of autonomous ships and surface vessels in the shipping and ocean space. . Now this podcast looks at all things maritime and related to the oceans, how we use it – and try not to abuse it – and how we are likely to use technological advances to make it better. Within this there are the developments of autonomous sy...

There's a lot of talk about autonomous and unmanned planes, trains, cars and rockets, and in the marine sphere a lot of talk about unmanned autonomous ships. In the first of three episodes Craig Eason talks to experts about current developments to assess where the market currently stands and what it all means. In the first episode he e-meets Pia Meling from Massterly- the manager of the Yara Birke...

Knut Ørbeck Nilssen,head of DNV GL Maritime and Madadh MacLaine, secretary general of the Zero Emission Ship Technology Association talk to Craig Eason about the role of LNG as a transition fuel towards a decarbonised shipping future, with comments from Brian Østergaard Sørensen at MAN ES about fuel systems and the future diesel engine. Plus Thetius CEO Nick Chubb offers his insights to the latest...

The EU announced its funding to get the bloc out of the Covid-19 induced recession, and it includes speeding the hydrogen roapmap. However as the Climate Bonds Initiative has its draft low carbon shipping criteria out for consultation, SEA-LNG, which promotes LNG as a marine fuel, wants it to reconsider its non-inclusion of LNG carriers saying shipping can't wait 10 years for hydrogen economies an...

A report was issued this year estimating the investment needed to decarbonise shipping at about $1.2tr between 2030 and 2050. The work was conducted by UMAS (University Maritime Advisory Services) in the UK for the Copenhagen based Global Maritime Forum. One of the key points was that this figure does ot apply as much to what shipowners will need to invest, but what needs to be invested into creat...

Behavioral economics, the understanding of what makes people tick, and getting them to make the right decisions, is not exactly new, and in politics, not always welcome. But when it comes to openly encouraging us to make decisions that have a positive impact on the environment then it certainly gets attention. One UK-based startup company Signol has taken this approach and is applying it to shippi...

While a return to the days of sailing vessels taking cargo around the world sounds romantic, it is also unrealistic. The great sails of old were no where near as efficient as ships are today. However with shipping being forced down a decarbonisation road, it is likely that some modern alternatives will be part of the mix of fossil fuel free solutions. Many of the solutions that have been demonstra...

The global effort to significantly lower the amount of man-made carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases has seen a lot of government-backed collaborative efforts in recent years. In the shipping maritime and ocean spaces this has been somewhat fragmented, with different international agencies taking on different responsibilities. The UN's shipping agency, the International Maritime Organization,...

Global trade is largely based on just-in-time, lean.supply chains with goods shipped around the world as they are needed. The Covid-19 lockdowns have brought this into stark relief. It also raises the profile of the ships crews that are needed to keep the ships going that keep these ships going. There are stories of crews being forced to stay on board and work much longer than they should, which w...

The second in our series looking at the new wave of wind propulsion systems for shipping. Fathom World editorial director talks to co-owner Frank Nieuwenhuis and technical director and system inventor Guus van der Bles from Dutch solution provider Econowind, about the system , its abilities and how they see wind solutions being used in a decarbonised shipping industry. More details can be found at...

A new age of sail is emerging for shipping. It's true, we may be able to say once more that ships are sailing and mean it. It may lack the image of the great tea clippers and multi-sailed vessels of the previous centuries, but a new breed of companies and engineers are re-examining what can be done with the wind as shipping looks to decarbonise. They are not looking to bring back multi-rigged sail...

With international regulator, The IMO, working on how it can make international shipping, which means up to 60,000 very large ships, decarbonise, the main shipowner groups have put forward their own version of a research and development fund that could be created by the International Maritime Organisation to help with the industry reach its goal. Read more on the website: https://fathom.world/ship...

Welcome to the inaugural episode of the Aronnax podcast focused on the transformation of the maritime and shipping space, powered by Fathom. World and presented by Craig Eason In our first episode we visit MAN, (yes, the engine maker owned by the Volkswagen Group) that changed one of its business unit names from MAN Diesel and Turbo to MAN Energy Solutions, as it recognised the writing on the wall...