The carbon capture market is growing as orders for liquefied CO2 carriers are on the rise while Greek shipowners are expected to play a central role in this emerging industry.
Shipping sources told “Naftemporiki” that the Northern Lights consortium is ready to increase its order book with LCO2 carriers, being very close to an agreement with Chinese shipyard Dalian Shipbuilding Industry for two more vessels.
Northern Lights is developing the world’s first flexible infrastructure to transport CO2 from industrial plants with heavy emission profiles in Europe.
Meanwhile, the interest of the “Greeks” in carbon capture and storage technology is particularly strong. Peter Livanos founded Ecolog, which wants to build a fleet of CO2 carriers, as well as import and export terminals for the reserved quantity.
Also, Olympic Shipping & Management, which manages the ships controlled by the Onassis Foundation, started a collaboration with the Global Center for Maritime Decarbonization (GCMD) at the beginning of the year. One part of their cooperation will focus on carbon sequestration. According to information, Olympic Shipping & Management estimates that within 3-5 years from today it will be able to test the technology on board.
Speaking to “Naftemporiki”, the CEO of Dorian LPG, John Lycouris, underlined that the most affordable way to contain the rise in temperature to 1.5 degrees Celsius compared to pre-industrial levels is carbon sequestration.
He added that shipping is the cheapest way to transport sequestered amounts of CO2.
A small investment in Aqualung, a company that innovates in the field of CO2 capture and separation technologies with membranes, has also been made by George Giouroukos’ Global Ship Lease.
At the end of June, Stathis Topouzoglou’s Prime Marine announced that it would work with Chinese shipyard Nantong CIMC Sinopacific Offshore & Engineering Co., LTD and – also Chinese – TGE Marine Gas Engineering, a provider of liquefied gas systems to optimize LCO2 carrier designs.
Finally, early summer it became known that the American Bureau of Shipping (ABS) established a working group consisting of 13 shipping companies to further develop the carbon capture and storage chain. Of these, eight are of Greek interests.
