Shell and Houlder team up on decarbonisation

The agreement will focus on both retrofit and newbuild vessels, spanning market research, technical analysis of clean solutions, safety and risk assessment studies, and emissions reduction verification.

“We must collectively do more to accelerate change – and this is one of the cornerstones of our forward-thinking collaboration with Shell,” commented Rupert Hare, chief executive at Houlder.

Jonathan Strachan, chief technical officer at Houlder, said there was a ‘myriad’ of maritime decarbonisation solutions. “The challenge is cutting through the noise to find the right solutions for a ship type, specific ship, and its unique operating profile,” he said.

“Our collaboration with Shell will support the company in making the right decarbonisation decisions, underpinned by technical design and engineering expertise.”

Both companies want to see commercial ships with lower emissions operating safely in the 2030s. This will be achieved through existing technologies and fuels, they say, but the more ambitious IMO target of net zero by 2050 will need radical change.

News of this collaboration agreement comes after Houlder announced its work for Shell on the concept design of liquid hydrogen carriers, and studies on hydrogen as a cargo or fuel.