The Edinburgh-based software group has received a grant to advance port decarbonisation through its Marlin SmartPort climate-smart platform.
The Data-Led Emissions Management (D-LEMA) project is part of the Clean Maritime Demonstration Competition, funded by the UK Department for Transport and delivered in partnership with Innovate UK.
The half-year-long pilot study will validate whether vessel fuel usage and carbon dioxide emissions can be reliably estimated in and around ports using the International Maritime Organization global standard.
The Clean Maritime Demonstration Competition is a £20m investment from the government alongside a further ~£10m from industry to reduce emissions from the maritime sector.
The programme supports 55 projects across the UK and will be used to support the research, design, and development of zero-emission technology and infrastructure solutions for the maritime industry and to accelerate the sector's decarbonisation.
The grant received by ION supports the UK's Ten Point Plan to address climate change and help achieve the country's net-zero emissions target by 2050.
"Our technology is focused on creating high-value information that drives smarter, safer management of the 5,000+ ports globally and the 50,000+ cargo vessels that transit between them. This grant enables us to continue advancing our maritime digitalisation platform, Marlin SmartPort, which integrates systems and data to provide better real-time visibility and actionable intelligence to operate with just-in-time efficiency, minimising fuel consumption and emissions," Stuart Darling, Senior Vice President, ION's Software group, commented.
He furthered, "Our goal is to develop and validate fuel monitoring capabilities to start tracking and, ultimately, to reduce port-related shipping emissions."
Darling also underlined, "On behalf of ION, I would like to thank our project partners, Plymouth Marine Laboratory, who will supply the data, and the Offshore Renewable Energy Catapult, who will assist with the analysis."
Photo: ION