The Singapore-Rotterdam GDSC was established in August 2022 by the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) and Port of Rotterdam Authority (PoR) to accelerate transformation efforts for maritime decarbonisation and digitalisation.
In a statement, the ports noted how Singapore and Rotterdam are two of the largest bunkering ports globally, making them "crucial links" in the Asian-European shipping lanes and playing a key role in catalyzing international shipping's efficiency, resilience, and sustainability.
To date, the GDSC initiative has brought together 26 global value-chain partners across shipping lines, fuel suppliers, port authorities and operators, industry coalitions, banks, and leading institutes of higher learning and knowledge partners.
It said that Hapag-Lloyd, the world's fifth-largest liner shipping company operating more than 260 ocean-going vessels, is the latest addition to the corridor.
Hapag-Lloyd joins four other leading global container shipping lines, which have committed to deploying large container vessels running on near-zero emission fuels along the high-volume Asia-Europe trade lane.
Other new corridor partners include A*STAR Centre for Maritime Digitalisation (A*STAR's C4MD), led by A*STAR's Institute of High-Performance Computing (A*STAR IHPC).
The announcement noted that A*STAR's C4MD aims to develop advanced computational modelling, simulation and artificial intelligence solutions for a safe, efficient and sustainable maritime ecosystem.
Encouraging the uptake of zero and near-zero emission fuels
The GDSC partners will be implementing several first-mover pilot projects and testing out commercial structures to accelerate the uptake of zero and near-zero emission fuels, such as synthetic and bio-variants of methanol, ammonia, methane, and hydrogen.
The announcement noted that this implementation follows earlier modelling studies undertaken by the Maersk Mc-Kinney Møller Centre for Zero Carbon-Shipping and the Centre for Maritime Studies of the National University of Singapore to explore multiple alternative fuel pathways and their viability as a sustainable marine fuel.
Singapore and Rotterdam have previously created working groups to investigate various sustainable fuels, including the Bio-methane Working Group, Methanol Working Group, Ammonia Working Group, and Hydrogen Working Group.
Adoption of digital solutions
On the digital front, the announcement said Singapore and Rotterdam have successfully trialled the exchange of port-to-port data and are now able to exchange vessel arrival and departure times to facilitate port planning and for ships to optimise their port call voyage between Singapore and Rotterdam.
Following this successful trial, Singapore and Rotterdam have jointly issued a call-for-proposal (CFP) for standards-based solutions that enable efficient and secure data exchange between ship and shore.
Teo Eng Dih, MPA's chief executive, said, "The progress made since the establishment of the Singapore-Rotterdam Green and Digital Shipping Corridor in August 2022 demonstrates that public-private collaboration across global value chains can be achieved."
"This collaboration will allow Singapore and Rotterdam to pilot innovative solutions on one of the world’s busiest shipping routes and accelerate the decarbonisation and digitalisation of the shipping industry," he added.
Boudewijn Siemons, chief executive officer of POR, noted that "The Singapore Rotterdam Corridor is a very valuable collaboration in accelerating the twin transition: the integration of digital innovation in energy transition efforts."
"Not only are we seeing the first results in standardization and data sharing for Port Call Optimization but also the first steps in moving towards operationalization of zero and low carbon fuels on this trade lane," he said.
