Connected Places Catapult ZAS0069
Submitted by: | Thomas White, Ecosystem Director – Maritime and Ports, Connected Places Catapult |
1. This response focuses on maritime aspects relating to three of the Committee’s questions:
2. Case studies and contexts led by, or involving, our local partners are cited from the following parts of the United Kingdom and their wider regions:
3. In addressing the above questions, the following perspectives are offered for the Committee’s consideration:
4. A common barrier to adoption in high capital, long asset lifetime, infrastructure-heavy sectors is the risk of stranded assets as uncertainty remains around emerging technology options and the commercial benefits of those technologies. To invest in new technologies, shipping operators need confidence in the technology to perform as required - and that the supporting infrastructure (such as servicing and refuelling) will be available at the relevant ports of call. This has created a well-known ‘chicken and egg’ effect, whereby infrastructure won’t be committed until future fuel decisions are made, where those future fuel decisions are to a large extent reliant on the future infrastructure being available.
5. This environment can sometimes create perverse incentive pressures to be second rather than first in investing in new technologies. The UK maritime sector has always been fortunate in having many farsighted innovation investors, commensurate with the UK’s renowned high-tech innovators. However, there has also often been a risk averse approach to new maritime technologies, which is particularly felt during disruptive shifts that fundamentally alter the ways in which the sector operates - such as in the adoption of future fuels. Much of the context to this is that in the 20th century, the UK maritime sector enjoyed far less strategic state support than have other UK sectors such as aerospace and automotive, which has not been the case with our overseas competitors, who took a much more active interest in their maritime sectors.
6. The Connected Places Catapult is working with industry and the UK Government to address these strategic challenges, mindful of this historical context. Furthermore, it should also be noted that the UK Government has recently provided other support to the sector such as the 2021 Clean Maritime Demonstrator Competitions, funded by the Department for Transport and delivered by them in partnership with Innovate UK. In part enabled by calls such as this, we are working closely with partners across industry to increase awareness of new technologies and to stimulate and de-risk innovation. This current work includes our locally-led projects across the United Kingdom under the aforementioned DfT Clean Maritime Demonstrator Competition (September 2021 - March 2022):
7. The above projects build and expand on our previous work with industry and the UK Government to identify high impact opportunities, such as:
8. To further leverage the UK’s innovation ecosystem, expanded public sector strategic support and continued engagement would better enable our leading innovators to identify and exploit commercialisation opportunities. Connected Places Catapult already works with innovators, investors and customers across the UK to support their identification of potential commercial exploitation routes and connect them with new opportunities. We have recently done this with the EPSRC-funded DecarboN8 Network of Northern universities,[7] where we developed a maritime decarbonisation seed corn project on hydrogen fuel transition in Cumbria, to a full-scale demonstrator proposal with commercial partners in 2021.
9. To accelerate the development and uptake of net zero technologies in shipping, the UK should support:
10. Reducing our reliance on shipping would not necessarily lead to systemic emissions reductions in the UK where that would require heavier reliance on other transport modes. Shipping can provide scope for lower CO2 emissions per tonne of cargo per mile travelled, where road or rail alternatives exist. While it is true that many regional ports cannot support today’s largest cargo vessels, it is important to remember however, that many are capable of servicing smaller feeder vessels transporting cargo from larger ports to smaller, regional ports using coastal and short sea shipping routes. These smaller feeder vessels, in many instances, may prove to be a lower carbon key to more widely dispersed economic regeneration.
11. In considering a decreased reliance on shipping, it should be remembered that this could often logically necessitate transport of goods by other means, presenting increased pressures for the strategic road and rail networks which are already highly utilised. Considering wider UK emissions reduction on a modally-specific basis, could sometimes increase the risk that our actions in one transport mode will create unintended side effects in other transport modes - having a negative impact on greenhouse gas emissions from a whole systems perspective.
12. A prosperous maritime sector also provides secondary benefits to regions, economies and communities in the supporting businesses, jobs and skills that exist to service it. Many UK regions requiring economic regeneration are coastal. The more active use of green coastal and short sea shipping may provide substantial opportunities for more sustainable regional growth and levelling up across the UK.
13. Connected Places Catapult is currently leading several projects which support regional maritime ecosystems, including:
14. To support wider decarbonisation targets across the transport system and unlock regional economic growth through the opportunities presented by a prosperous maritime sector, the UK should support initiatives that:
15. Both the UK’s maritime heritage and position as a leading force in international shipping is reflected in London being home to many maritime headquarters including: the International Maritime Organisation; international regulators; and technology companies. Recent developments in home nations and internationally, put the UK in a strong position to drive international action on carbon emissions:
16. The above four projects all present potential to establish future coastal or short sea partnerships, providing end-to-end system demonstrators with international collaborators. Whilst the first ‘Green Shipping Corridor’ is to be established between Australia and China, the second has yet to be determined.
17. UK leadership in the decarbonisation of international shipping can be unlocked through seeking overseas partnerships. Several Clean Maritime Demonstrator Competition projects (ours included) involve work to ensure UK ports are ‘infrastructure ready’ for the green vessels of the near future. The solutions and exploitable IP being developed at UK ports are relevant to challenges faced at ports globally.
18. To drive forward international action on emissions, the UK should:
19. Society often becomes most aware of the climate crisis when we think globally, such as during landmark international summits. We may be most likely to convert both our anxiety about that crisis and our capacity for innovation, into action and opportunity, when we think globally - but also have a means to act locally and nationally in response.
20. By having the confidence to prioritise the driving of international action on carbon emissions such as through high profile international trade promotion of emerging UK low carbon maritime successes to date - we will further build a tangible local-national-global context that can help further drive competitiveness and the development and uptake of net zero maritime technologies in the UK. We will move further away from ‘chicken-and-egg’ - to ‘virtuous circle’ as our emerging zero carbon maritime economy's visibility commands greater priority and attracts more innovators and investors.
21. ‘Coastal and inland’ (or a similar term) should become as common as public policy shorthand, as ‘North and South’ or ‘Urban and Rural’. Fostering that visibility and the rising confidence of some of our often long-neglected British maritime coastal communities, could be a powerful further driver for the UK’s growing contribution to realising a global net zero maritime future. That future will also be more widely and speedily realised, as public policy is increasingly informed by localised, granular and regional approaches where coastal communities experience intergenerational challenges - so that those communities are in the best position to connect with, and catch the tide of, the UK's emerging sustainable maritime economy. The 2019 House of Lords Select Committee Report on The Future of Seaside Towns (HL 320) offers insights into the opportunities and challenges in many coastal communities.
February 2022
[1] Aberdeen Harbour Green Port Blueprint
[3] Vertically Integrated Cloud Based Ports