Source: The Standard
Algoma Central Corp. will explore wind-assisted propulsion, a wider suite of biofuels and methanol-fuelled vessels with nearly $600,000 from the federal government’s Green Shipping Corridor Program’s clean vessel demonstration stream.
The St. Catharines-based shipping company is one of eight that received funding for 14 projects to help spur the launch of the next generation of clean ships, invest in shore power technology, and prioritize low-emission and low-noise vessels at ports.
Tuesday, Niagara Centre Liberal MP Vance Badawey, parliamentary secretary to Minister of Transport Pablo Rodriguez, announced $1.7 million in funding for the projects, which also includes laker design, fuel cell, shore power and zero-emission studies through companies such as the CSL Group, Fednav Ltd., Transport Desgagnés Inc., Mersey Seafoods Ltd., Miawpukek Horizon Corp., Oceanex and Seaspan Ferries.
“Marine transportation is essential to our daily lives, to Canadian businesses, and crucial for our supply chain. It is the backbone of a thriving economy. Canadians across the country rely on marine shipping to deliver the products we use in an affordable, safe, environmentally friendly, and efficient way,” said announcement speaking notes from Badawey.
He said the marine industry has environmental impacts on the waterways and that Transport Canada is taking action to address those impacts through the Green Shipping Corridors program, launched in 2023.
Marine shipping accounted for close to three per cent of greenhouse gas emissions globally in 2018.
The program, $165.4 million over seven years, funds projects that help decarbonize the marine sector in major shipping corridors along the Great Lakes, the St. Lawrence Seaway, and Canada’s east and west coasts.
There’s $22.5 million in the clean vessel demonstration stream and $127.2 million in the clean ports stream.
The program also aims to spur innovation and launch the next generation of clean ships and ports, invest in shore power technology and prioritize low-emission and low-noise vessels at ports.
“These projects aim to study, test, and pilot zero and near-zero fuel propulsion systems for shipping vessels,” said Badawey, whose family was involved in supplying the shipping industry years ago.
Algoma Central’s wind study will look at the feasibility of a wind-assisted propulsion system on Canadian bulk carriers and perform safety assessments.
The company will also develop a concept design and carry out a feasibility study for methanol-fuelled vessels.
It will also look at technical work to ensure a wider suite of biofuels can be used on vessels.
Its shore power study will explore the technical and economic feasibility and emission reduction benefits of retrofitting its vessels to use shore power when docked, and the company will look at the powering of tugs, in tug-barge combos, using the barge as primary fuel storage.
Canada Steamship Lines (CSL) will use $125,000 in funding to develop the design of the world’s first diesel-electric, battery hybrid laker.