Cruise and Ferry Review - Summer/Spring 2020

1 1 7 CFR executive editor Jon Ingleton (on the bottom row) joined our roundtable host Simon Johnson (middle row, centre), panellists and guests in the Painted Hall of London’s Old Royal Naval College, venue for the farewell dinner of the 2019 Interferry Conference new emerging technology helps us fulfil these responsibilities, we can rationalise investing in it. Christophe Mathieu, CEO of Brittany Ferries : Rather than asking what is the right technology, we must ask what can we do to achieve our goal of reducing the impact of our operations? LNG, for example, is a fossil fuel so it’s not the zero- emissions solution we want in the long term. However, LNG is the best short- to medium-term solution for shipping. It lowers carbon dioxide emissions and is significantly better than diesel in terms of air quality, even compared to ships with scrubbers. That’s why we’ve designed new ships like Honfleur, Salamanca and Santona to accommodate LNG, even with the current absence of adequate refuelling infrastructure in ports. Wilco van der Linden, business development director at Wärtsilä : We strive to be technology-ready, and while it’s hard to predict some societal, political, regulatory and economic developments, we know the price of fuel and emissions will steeply rise due to the environmental battle we’re all fighting. Wärtsilä is deeply involved in R&D projects on technologies that will be able to match the fuels of the future, the impact of artificial intelligence (AI) and data-driven transport operations. We can’t be sure which developments will have the greatest impact, but we can’t afford to wait for them to be proven. Per Westling, managing director of Stena RoRo : Being a large operator with a high technical focus and willingness to invest in new technology, we have “AI is a fundamental part of smart shipping, which will lead to more efficiencies” Nicholas Belle, FlexIT