What do you see as the most important trends in the future -for instance LNG as fuel, battery propulsion or information technology? Knut Orbeck-Nilssen: We expect that the push for shipping to become greener will persist. But I think it's unlikely we see the industry adopt just one solution to enhance efficiency and environmental friendliness. LNG as ship fuel will continue to grow, even though the uptake has been slower than we predicted with less than 150 gas-fuelled vessels operating or on order. Challenges like the underdevelopment of bunkering infrastructure remain, but there do seem to be positive moves in this direction. Battery and hybrid applications are very promising in some niche markets like offshore support or ferry shipping. With the automotive industry heavily invested in this technology this development will continue. Overall, it looks as if the variety of fuels being used and propulsion concepts in shipping will be much greater in the future than today.
展开▼
