1 1 1 improvements. Svensen, who worked for DNV for many years, believes that if RCG and its partners successfully develop a sustainable building system that works well, it could be turned into a standard for the whole cruise industry to follow. The major component of any ship is steel, which is not only used for the structure, but also for multiple other onboard elements, such as engines and pumps. Steel has the advantage of being 100 per cent recyclable, but the disadvantage of having a relatively high carbon footprint. However, Svensen points out that the steel industry is working hard to decarbonise. “It will take time, but the sector is moving away from the traditional methods of production and a growing number of steel mills are developing green steel using renewable energies, such as hydrogen,” he says. “This will bring down the carbon footprint for newbuilds quite significantly. I am quite optimistic that over the next decade or so we will see a big transition in how steel is produced.” While sourcing low-emission steel will likely lead to the biggest improvement in reducing a ship’s carbon footprint, Svensen says that shipyards sourcing green energy to use during the construction process will also help. Some have already achieved this, while others are taking steps to do so. “After that it is down to finding greener individual components,” says Svensen. “We must reduce emissions, and shipyards also need to be more demanding when asking about the carbon footprint of the materials they are buying. The only way to bring it down is via the supply chain. That is important because if you don’t produce a material yourself, the only thing you can control is to demand it has low emissions when you are making contracts with suppliers.” RCG is already making progress with its project to decarbonise the newbuilding process. According to Svensen, thanks to hard work over the past year and a very good response from the shipyards RCG has been able to start defining targets. “Our hope is that, roughly within the next year, we should have a good baseline and framework developed for [Royal Caribbean International’s] Icon of the Seas so that we can start testing,” he says. “This won’t be a certifiable standard immediately. I think we’ll need to produce guidelines first, try them out and come up with a process for verification. Then we’ll test it out on two or three new buildings and maybe it will become a certifiable standard after that. “At least from our side we are very open to collaborate and potentially develop this into a universally acceptable framework that the industry can use – Royal Caribbean International will be testing fuel cell technology onboard the new Icon of the Seas, which will debut in autumn 2023
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