The maritime industry must move beyond individual fuel procurement strategies and aggregate demand for alternative fuels if it is to unlock the investment needed to scale zero-emission shipping, according to EmissionLink managing director Philippos Ioulianou.

Speaking at SMM in Hamburg during the panel session 'Cracking the Code: Demand Aggregation as a Catalyst for Zero-Emission Shipping', Ioulianou said the industry should draw on lessons from previous energy transitions rather than attempt to resolve the supply-and-demand challenge from scratch.

The limited availability and high cost of alternative fuels remain among the barriers to maritime decarbonisation, with shipowners reluctant to commit without sufficient supply at commercially viable prices, while fuel producers require greater certainty over long-term demand before committing to major investment decisions — a situation widely characterised as a chicken-and-egg problem.

“I think the chicken-and-egg question is something we have been talking about for many years,” Mr Ioulianou said. “Today, we are moving in the right direction. We have seen in other industries how regulation and incentives can help bring costs down and accelerate adoption, such as the solar power industry, and shipping is now going through that same transition. Regulation is already having an impact, and we are seeing growing uptake of bioenergy and biofuels, alongside more solutions coming into the market to support compliance.”

Ioulianou pointed to the introduction of FuelEU Maritime and the EU Emissions Trading System (EU ETS) as evidence that regulation can stimulate demand for lower-carbon fuels and encourage collaboration across the industry.

“Shipping’s growing experience with compliance through the likes of FuelEU Maritime and the EU ETS can play an important role in aggregating demand for new fuels,” he said. “By bringing shipowners and charterers together around shared compliance needs, we should be able to create the scale and certainty required to accelerate alternative fuel uptake and move towards a market where low-carbon fuels are available, accessible and affordable.”

Ioulianou also called for revenues generated from maritime activity under the EU ETS to be reinvested directly into maritime decarbonisation projects. With maritime EU ETS revenues expected to provide EU Member States with billions of euros, he argued that a greater proportion of this funding should be directed towards projects that address barriers to maritime decarbonisation and accelerate alternative fuel infrastructure development, particularly in major bunkering regions.

He further contended that green shipping corridors could help build supply chains, but only if structured to incentivise emissions reductions: “Green corridors should reward vessels that actively reduce emissions, whether that is through cleaner fuels or energy-efficiency technologies. We need to create an environment where investment in lower-carbon operations makes commercial sense.”

Ioulianou added that the industry should recognise that previous energy transitions took years to achieve meaningful scale, and that maritime decarbonisation should be viewed through the same lens — not as a reason to delay action, but as a call to use regulation, collaboration and demand aggregation to accelerate the transition.

The panel was moderated by chief correspondent Gary Howard and also featured Hanno Bromeis, head of port energy solutions at Hamburg Port Authority; Alex Hueser, senior advisor and procurement lead at the Zero Emission Maritime Buyers Alliance (ZEMBA); Arne Maibohm, director of decarbonisation at Hapag-Lloyd; and Dr Charlie McKinlay, fuels and technologies lead at the Lloyd’s Register Maritime Decarbonisation Hub.