ShipFC’s main mission is to prove and show the case for large-scale zero-emission shipping. We do this through developing, piloting and replicating a modular 2MW fuel cell technology using ammonia as fuel. The project will first adapt and scale-up existing fuel cell solutions to a 2MW system, develop ship and land fuel systems for ammonia and integrate the full system onboard a large offshore construction vessel. Then the solution will be validated through commercial operation for at least 3000 hours during a one-year period. Moreover, socio-technical models and analysis will be performed and a full feasibility study on a series of additional vessels will be conducted.

GATERS proposes the first retrofit application of a novel propulsion and manoeuvring device for ships, called “Gate Rudder System”. It specifically addresses at the call text “to develop and demonstrate to TRL6 and higher innovative, cost-effective retrofit solution for marine shipping to provide substantial improvements regarding environmental impacts and life cycle cost". Taking advantage of the remarkable fuel saving (a max of 14% in trials and 30% in-service) and excellent manoeuvrability of the gate rudder system, "GATERS demonstrates significantly reduced emissions from ships particularly within coastal and port areas to challenge and even exceeding the current and future legislative requirements of the IMO and local regulations for emissions". GATERS aims to bring together 18 technology experts and prime stakeholders, including the patent holder, to demonstrate and exploit the benefits of this system by two complementary deliverables. First is the retrofit demonstration of the system for the European short sea shipping operations by installing and operating on a target coastal tanker. Second is the concept exploration of this system for the oceangoing shipping operations, including fleet level. Hence to demonstrate if the Gate Rudder System can be the next generation propulsion and steering system for the waterborne transport. The three-phase work programme of GATERS includes the investigation of the technical challenges and solutions in Phase1. The detailed design and manufacturing of the retrofit system on the target vessel are to be conducted in Phase2. The demonstration of the retrofit technology on the target vessel and its impact assessment comprising other ship types are included in Phase 3. The two deliverables of the projects will be exploited by the Consortium immediately and the European Maritime Industry to follow up through the comprehensive communication, dissemination and exploitation activities supported by the Industry Advisory Board.

The objective of BUGWRIGHT2 will be to bridge the gap between the current and desired capabilities of ship inspection and service robots by developing and demonstrating an adaptable autonomous robotic solution for servicing ship outer hulls. By combining the survey capabilities of autonomous Micro Air Vehicles (MAV) and small Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUV), with teams of magnetic-wheeled crawlers operating directly on the surface of the structure, the project inspection and cleaning system will be able to seamlessly merge the acquisition of a global overview of the structure with performing a detailed multi-robot visual and acoustic inspection of the structure, detecting corrosion patches or cleaning the surface as necessary – all of this with minimal user intervention. The detailed information provided will be integrated into a real-time visualization and decision-support user-interface taking advantage of virtual reality technologies. Although ships are the targetted application, BUGWRIGHT2 technology may be easily adapted to different structures assembled out of metal plates, and in particular to storage tanks, our secondary application domain. The project consists of a large consortium bringing together not only the technological knowledge from academia but the complete value chain of the inspection robotic market: two SMEs, one class society to evaluate the use of these technologies in the certification processes, a marine service provider and two harbors to provide access to ships, one shipyard to deploy the system within a maintenance framework and two shipowners. In addition, specialists in maritime laws and workplace psychologists will ensure that the digitalization of this market sector is designed around user acceptance. Finally, a specialist in innovation will lead the dissemination and exploitation activities.

DT4GS is aimed at delivering an “Open Digital Twin Framework” for both shipping companies and the broader waterborne industry actors to tap into new opportunities made available through the use of Digital Twins(DTs). The project will enable shipping stakeholders to embrace the full spectrum of DT innovations to support smart green shipping in the upgrade of existing ships and new vessels. DT4GS will cover the full ship lifecycle by embracing federation of DT applications as well as utilising DTLF policies and related shared-dataspace developments for the sector. DT4GS applications will focus on shipping companies but will also provide decarbonisation decision-support system for shipyards, equipment manufacturers, port authorities and operators, river commissions, classification societies, energy companies and transport/corridor infrastructure companies. DT4GS’s objectives are to: 1. Support shipping companies in achieving up to 20% reduction in CO2e with a 2026 horizon, by developing and deploying real-time configurable DTs for ship and fleet operational performance optimisation in 4 Living Labs involving shipping companies, with different vessel types, and establishing fully validated industry services for Green Shipping Operational Optimisation DTs expected to be adopted by 1000+ ships by 2030. 2. Establish a comprehensive zero-emission shipping methodology and support Virtual Testbed and Decision Support Systems that address both new builds and retrofits comprising: a. A DT4GS (Green Shipping) Dataspace for the broader shipping sector contributing to GAIA-X by establishing a core European industry resource that accelerates the green and digital transition of waterborne shipping and transport value chains. b. Simulation based solutions to retrofit ships, targeting 55% reduced CO2e reduction by 2030. c. A smart green “new-build” reference design per vessel type. d. Virtual Testbed services for reducing the cost of physical testing of GS solutions by 20%.