Clean Maritime Demonstration Competition 6: Feasibility Studies

Overview

The aim of Clean Maritime Demonstration Competition Round 6 is to fund pre-deployment trials and feasibility studies into clean maritime technologies and skills that reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

The aim of Strand 2 (this strand) is to fund feasibility studies of clean maritime technologies and skills without a focus on Smart Shipping. Your project must undertake a technical and economic feasibility study associated with the development and real world demonstration of on-vessel technologies, infrastructure technologies, skills or a combination of each.

You must plan for the real world demonstration or deployment developed in your project to be operational in water by the end of 2028.

Scope

Your project must:

• demonstrate a significant reduction in greenhouse gas emissions or air pollutants from the maritime transport sector
• underpin a future demonstration by delivering a meaningful technology, route to market, skills initiative or supply chain innovation
• achieve market potential through a clear strategy for commercialising the technology and the products, demonstrating the potential for significant value to the UK
• include at least one representative end user such as a vessel operator, port or harbour authority, the end user must show clear commitment to the project
• bring together a team with the necessary expertise and experience to successfully deliver the project objectives 
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At the end of your project, you must: 

• produce a clear, detailed and costed plan for how your technology or skills initiative will be demonstrated in an operational setting including your technical approach, objectives and business case
• detail the resources needed to carry out an operational demonstration, including funding requirements, timescales for delivery, planning permissions, implications of current and future regulation, new partners and information for a clear business case
• quantify the potential reduction of lifecycle emissions and positive economic impacts in the future
• outline expected commercial applications and exploitation, and potential market segments
• share your findings with the Department for Transport (DfT), Maritime and Coastguard agency (MCA) and Innovate UK
• produce a clear plan for disseminating the results of your project and knowledge sharing
• explain your understanding of any barriers to market adoption
• detail the barriers to adoption that the future demonstration will overcome and the innovation that will be delivered 
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Successful projects will be required to engage with the Department for Transport (DfT), Innovate UK and any third party contractors appointed by them related to CMDC projects.

Regulation

Projects must detail their plan for compliance with regulation and how they will work with relevant regulatory bodies for novel technologies.

Types of vessel

Technologies for all sizes and categories of maritime vessel subject to the Merchant Shipping Act 1995 are in scope. Solutions can be suitable for one target size of vessel or multiple. Pleasure, commercial, fishing and aquaculture vessels are in scope.

Where your project intends to utilise a vessel, the vessel is expected to be a United Kingdom Ship, otherwise you must provide justification for use of a non-United Kingdom Ship in your application. United Kingdom Ship is defined in 85(2) of the Merchant Shipping Act 1995.

Types of infrastructure

All ports and harbours are in scope, including infrastructure for freight, passenger, pleasure and commercial vessels. Offshore infrastructure is also in scope, such as wind farms.

Value for the UK

We strongly encourage projects from around the UK to support boosting jobs and economic growth, including projects from ports, vessel operators, vessel manufacturers and their supply chain. We welcome projects from areas with existing clean maritime expertise or co-located in clusters of renewable energy production and usage including hydrogen. 
You must clearly demonstrate how you will anchor IP generated by the project in the UK. You must also show how this IP will be exploited for the benefit of the UK supply chain in the future.

Green shipping corridors feasibility studies

If your proposal focusses on a green shipping corridor, you must assess and develop a clear implementation plan for the real-world establishment of the corridor. To qualify as a corridor, plan for at least one zero-emission (well to wake) vessel to be transiting the route.

Both UK domestic and international green shipping corridors are in scope for this strand.

At the end of your green corridor feasibility study you must also: 

• estimate the annual additional costs of delivering the corridor, considering various market participants, for example: ship owners, ports, fuel suppliers, with clear plans to meet costs, covering both private and public funding sources
• estimate the direct and indirect environmental impacts from delivering the corridor, including impacts on greenhouse gas and air pollutant emissions
• estimate the scope for scaling up the number of zero-emission vessels and corresponding landside infrastructure, replicating the corridor elsewhere, and potential additional benefits to other routes and the wider fleet
• investigate potential scalable zero emission energy source options for the corridor, estimate the quantity of energy required each year, with a clear plan for how this would be produced, imported, distributed, stored and bunkered, and the conditions to mobilise and meet demand
• consider the design of the zero-emission vessels that would be used on the corridor, for example, newbuild or retrofit vessels, with a clear plan for how these vessels would be delivered
• determine how the fuel will be safely and effectively supplied and bunkered, and stored on board vessels
• include a clear plan for how the corridor would comply with all relevant regulations, for example, safety regulations
• develop a clear plan for disseminating learnings and data from the corridor across the industry

Clean maritime training and skills

If your proposal focusses on clean maritime training and skills, you must focus on the vocational or technical training infrastructure requirements to train the clean maritime design, manufacturing, maintenance or operational workforce.

Your clean maritime training and skills project must demonstrate: 

• an ambitious and realistic idea, to meet a significant talent requirement for innovative clean maritime technology
• a clear focus on skills for significantly reducing emissions in the maritime sector
• that it is novel to the UK, a region or a specific group of people
• value for money and a credible, evidenced return on investment, in terms of trained, upskilled and reskilled people

Key themes and topics

Projects can focus on one or more of the following:

Prioritised themes: 

• International ferries
• Vessels greater than 24 metres in length
• Ammonia solutions

Other themes: 

• Domestic and international green shipping corridors
• Clean maritime training and skills initiatives

Vessel low and zero emission technologies: 

• retrofit readiness to accommodate future clean maritime technologies
• vessel propulsion and auxiliary engines, for example: batteries, fuel cells, and internal combustion engines using low or zero carbon alternative fuels such as hydrogen, methanol, ammonia or multi-fuel combinations
• wind propulsion, including soft-sail, fixed-sail, rotor, kite and turbine technologies, targeting a range of ship types from small vessels to large cargo carriers, both as primary and auxiliary propulsion 
• low carbon energy storage and management
• physical connections to shoreside power or alternative fuels, including fuelling lines
• enabling technologies such as motors, drives, sensor and power electronics
• energy efficiency technologies, where they significantly enhance the vessel range or lower alternative fuel usage to enable the fuel’s viability
• type approval of novel on-vessel equipment

Infrastructure technologies including offshore solutions: 

• shoreside storage and bunkering of low and zero carbon fuel
• charging infrastructure and management for electric vessels
• shore power solutions, such as enabling docked vessels to turn off their conventional power supply for ancillary systems
• physical connections to shoreside power or alternative fuels, including fuelling lines
• shoreside renewable energy generation at the port to supply vessels
• low carbon fuel production, such as hydrogen, methanol, ammonia
• zero emission infrastructure, including stationary assets for freight handling and port operations within a port or harbour site
• zero emission offshore infrastructure for wind, oil and gas farms that support zero or low emission vessels

Project duration

• last up to seven months
• start by 1 September 2025
• end by 31 March 2026

Award value

Total costs between £75,000 and £1 million

Funding rates

Funding available for your eligible project costs of: 

• up to 70% if you are a micro or small organisation
• up to 60% if you are a medium sized organisation
• up to 50% if you are a large organisation

Research organisations can share up to 50% of the total eligible project costs.

Eligibility criteria

• Projects must be collaborative and lead by a UK registered business of any size
• Collaborators must be a UK registered business of any size; academic institution; charity; not for profit; public sector organisation; research and technology organisation (RTO)
• Subcontractors must preferably be UK-based with fully justified and appropriate costs