The “New Sustainable Marine Fuels – Decarbonize Shipping” Conference held in Genoa

On April 14th, the conference “I nuovi combustibili marini sostenibili – Decarbonize Shipping” took place in Genoa, organized by the Port Authority in collaboration with Marevivo ETS Foundation.

Held in Sala 7 Maggio at the Port Authority premises, the event was part of the 160th anniversary celebrations of the Italian Port Authority. It brought together stakeholders from the maritime industry, institutions, academia, and local communities. Among the distinguished speakers were Admiral Pietro Pellizzari, Maritime Director for Liguria and Chief of the Port of Genova; Hon. Edoardo Rixi, Deputy Minister of Infrastructure and Transport; Mario Zanetti, President of Confitarma; Matteo Catani, Vice President of Assarmatori; Dario Soria of Assocostieri and our President of Fratelli Cosulich Group, Augusto Cosulich.

Our President took part in the session titled “New Green Fuels for Marine Use: Challenges and Opportunities,” sharing valuable insights on how the shipping industry can progress in its energy transition. Representing our Group's work, vision, and values, he highlighted our dedication to advancing change in the maritime energy sector. He presented our strategy for the Energy Transition and the related investments, which include:

• Developing assets and trading in alternative fuels such as LNG, biofuels, methanol, and, in the future, ammonia.
• Anticipating a gap in the availability of these assets and proactively addressing it by securing the "last mile" of the supply chain by building 2 LNG barges, 6 methanol/biofuel barges, and conducting a study for an ammonia barge.
• Diversifying geographically, to contribute to the logistics network for low-emission fuel currently in ports such as Singapore, Amsterdam-Rotterdam-Antwerp and Malaysia, aiming to a wider and global reach.

Augusto Cosulich also emphasized that collaboration is essential in this new era. Moving forward alone is no longer feasible: new fuels require significant investments in a context of great uncertainty, which makes alliances essential. Moreover, the need to develop clear regulations for LNG bunkering operations at Italian ports is now essential.

The conference has concluded with the official signing by Admiral Pellizzari of an ad-hoc regulation for LNG bunkering operations via barge (ship-to-ship) in Genova. The measure applies specifically to the area of Fincantieri shipyard, enabling the supply of LNG to Explora Journeys ships under construction in Genoa.

By adopting this regulation, Genoa, Italy's first port, has taken its first step to align with other countries standards and defend its market relevance. Nonetheless, this is just the first of  further steps needed in Liguria and Italy to remain competitive, especially considering that in the Mediterranea Sea, ports in Spain and France have already been supplying LNG for years.