Interview by ‘Versnellingshuis’

Earlier this year, the Versnellingshuis, an accelerator of the Ministry of Infrastructure & Water Management, brought together circular frontrunners, experts, entrepreneurs and policy makers during the National Dinner Circular Economy. The goal: strengthening supply chain cooperation to accelerate the transition to the circular economy. Five supply chain projects were spotlighted: projects in which parties are actively working together with support from the Versnellingshuis to close the loops and realise circular ambitions. One of these projects is the Moonshot Circular Maritime. Which insights emerged during the dinner? And what else was discussed? We asked Marjolein Boer of Maritime Sisters, value chain manager for this project within the Moonshot Circular Maritime.

 

Can you share something about the project?

Following the ‘Exploration of Circular opportunities for Maritime’ that Maritime Sisters & BlueCity executed in 2023, we explored concrete opportunities for 5 projects in a Moonshot, thanks in part to the Versnellingshuis.

Extending the operational life of existing ships is the first circular opportunity in the relatively short term. Besides, we know that in specific cases suboptimal choices are made, when it comes to sustainable investments, due to the maximum age limit for these ships to be able to operate. We dove into this with ship owner Anthony Veder, who pointed this out to us at the time, and other stakeholders.

Along the way, moreover, we entered a new reality: geopolitical tensions confirm the importance of being able to build and operate strategic ships, plus the need for access to critical materials. There is a very good resell market for Dutch-flagged ships owned by Dutch shipowners, but with the sale of these ships, high-value materials also set sail to other continents.

So that was the focus of the discussion: ownership, valuation of and access to materials. From the perspective of the entire life cycle of a ship.

 

How did the DinerCE add value?

This issue has many dimensions and most importantly: no easy solution. That is exactly why the Versnellingshuis offered us this table to gather key stakeholders around this issue.

We realised all too well that ‘seagoing tankers sailing for the oil & chemicals industry’ is certainly not the easiest segment to start.

At the same time, we saw wider opportunities to renew the current system to the benefit of all stakeholders. Think: more sustainable and cost-efficient operations.

During the DinerCE, all perspectives and key stakeholders were at the table. These ranged from shipowners, to shippers (chemical major), to leaders of the Top Sector Water & Maritime, the Dutch flag, the Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management and Leiden University (Industrial Ecology). This made for a very substantive as well as effective discussion.

 

What was the key insight at the table?

There is currently no incentive for shipowners or shippers to operate existing ships beyond the current age limit to operate in oil & gas (15-18 years). In fact, international regulations actually encourage the purchase of new vessels. If we want to break through the fact that shipowners say goodbye to good quality vessels at a relatively young age, we must look for incentives not in (new) regulations, but elsewhere in the supply chain. In other words, at insurers and financiers and especially in the business case for shipowners and shippers. The good news: for the end customer (shipper) this can also be cheaper in the end, so win-win!

 

How do you move forward now?

While we see a win-win in the long run, it is important to realise that breaking through the early parting of good vessels requires a change in the overall system. A system in which, moreover, many ships are already operating (lasting 30-40 years on average). On the one hand, we want to start working on what the system should look like in order to operate in Europe during the entire lifetime of a ship. And on the other hand, in the relatively short term, execute a pilot to extend the deployability of an existing ship by 5 years. This is groundbreaking in the current system, especially in view of the planned maintenance cycles, which are also designed for an age of up to 20 years.

 

What insights are also relevant to other supply chain projects?

It is incredibly important to understand the motivations of the various stakeholders involved to break through existing systems. Make sure they are all heard and then bring these insights to the table with decisive stakeholders. Parties who dare to stick their necks out, in our case the ship owner and the shipper, and who want to take action are the actual decision makers. We are ready to go after this fruitful discussion!

 

Want to read more about this Moonshot? Then check out the Versnellingshuis project page here.

Curious about the exploration? Download the report here.