INTERVIEW: Steel circularity offers untapped pathway for maritime decarbonization - SSI CEO

A clear opportunity exists to expand the maritime sector's decarbonization focus to the embodied environmental impacts of ship materials, beginning with the circularity potential of steel and pathways toward greener steel, said Ellie Besley-Gould, CEO of the Sustainable Shipping Initiative.

"A huge transition is happening, with genuine market signals from the industry to achieve maritime decarbonization," Besley-Gould told Platts, part of S&P Global Energy, in an interview.

"Our members, who include very forward-thinking industry players, are leading the industry by acting on their carbon footprint and are calling upon the SSI to identify and fill in gaps where uncertainty remains," she said via an e-mail on Nov. 13.

According to Besley-Gould, SSI continues to deliver on its road map set across six key areas-- oceans, people, community, finance, transparency and energy, including Scope 3 emissions.

So, SSI is also focusing on ship life cycle management, among other aspects, she said.

Steel is the dominant material in ships, accounting for about 70%-90% of a ship's total mass and driving one of the largest shares of Scope 3 emissions, factoring in extraction, refining and manufacturing, Besley-Gould said.

As a major wave of ship retirements approaches, about 150 million metric tons of ship steel will become available for recycling before 2032, she said, adding that this was a "strategic climate lever" that falls within this decade rather than after 2050.

According to Besley-Gould, with the Hong Kong Convention entering into force in 2025, a global minimum standard is now in place, providing greater confidence to invest in upgraded recycling capacity.

Using recovered marine steel in electric arc furnace production can reduce life cycle emissions by up to 90% compared with using new primary steel made from iron ore. However, today, the system mostly fails to capture that benefit, she said.

Less than 10% of ship steel remains traceable to high-quality reuse or low-carbon steelmaking routes, with the vast majority downcycled into low-value applications, she added.

One of the major hurdles is timing, according to Besley-Gould.

End-of-life decisions are often made in the last months of operation when the original owner has already lost leverage, she said. At that point, recycling becomes a cost rather than an opportunity, she said.

"On the demand side, what we need to see is fleet owners looking for green steel in their supply chain... And on the supply side, we would love ship owners to be thinking about recycling ships at midlife instead of end-of-life so that we can start well," she added.

Circularity is most achievable when embedded from design through to end-of-life, not just at the point of recycling, she said.

Coordination across the shipping and steel sectors, supported by global and regional regulations, and de-risking demand-generating policies are also vital to close material loops, she added.

Additionally, SSI is undertaking significant work on marine biodiversity and ocean health. This includes linking biofouling to energy efficiency, the impact of slow steaming on underwater radiated noise and whale strikes, as well as human impact, such as the mariners' welfare, Besley-Gould said.

Shipping's transformative pathway

The delay in the International Maritime Organization Net-Zero Framework ratification was disappointing, Besley-Gould said.

"The IMO MEPC83 outcome has, of course, maintained a level of uncertainty... There is still unpredictability over whether it is possible to have an incentivization scheme and whether the reward mechanism is appropriate, what it should ideally look like, and how the carbon tax proceeds would be spent," she said.

"I think while the mechanism would have accelerated the transition, it is nevertheless underway," she said, adding that a huge opportunity exists for shipping to not just transform itself but become a transformative industry that inspires others.

SSI is working with its members to explore how best to support net zero while continuing to deliver on its road map, she said.

"Although SSI remains fuel-agnostic, it highlights a wide range of alternative fuels under consideration -- from LNG and bio-based fuels to methanol, ammonia and synthetic options -- underscoring the need to evaluate each on sustainability criteria across the full fuel life cycle," she added.

"If we can combine energy efficiency with clean fuels, then there is kind of a double win," she said, referring to measures such as slow steaming, wind sails, hull coating and bubble lubrication.

Additionally, green and digital shipping corridors, such as the Singapore-Long Beach, were "brilliant examples" of promoting maritime decarbonization, according to Besley-Gould.

In 2023, the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore, the Port of Los Angeles and the Port of Long Beach unveiled a partnership strategy for a Green and Digital Shipping Corridor across the Pacific Ocean.

SSI would now like to look at how a similar approach could be taken to integrate co-benefits, Besley-Gould said. "So, how would slow steaming not only reduce emissions but also noise levels and whale strikes? Can one also implement human-side excellence and track crew welfare?"

"It will be exciting when we see emissions data and other things that the GDSCs are measuring, to extrapolate it to scale and see what is possible," she added.