As regulations and economic considerations continue to shape the future of the maritime industry, energy efficiency technologies (EETs) have emerged as a key avenue to mitigating higher fuel costs and reducing emissions.

In this episode of Setting Course, an ABS Podcast, Oliver Woodard, Sales Director for Silverstream Technologies, and Jessie Wilson, Manager of the ABS Houston Sustainability Center, joined host Brad Cox to discuss the driving forces behind EETs, their role in enhancing efficiency while meeting regulatory compliance, and Silverstream’s air lubrication technology.

Share this episode on social media, leave a review on your favorite podcast platform or send feedback to podcast@eagle.org. Learn more about how ABS is supporting the maritime industry at www.eagle.org.

Key Points

• EETs are essential for compliance and operational efficiency.
• Air lubrication systems reduce fuel consumption and emissions.
• Collaboration among stakeholders is crucial for innovation.
• Air lubrication technology is gaining traction in various ship segments.
• Shipowners are increasingly viewing EETs as necessary tools.

Guests

Oliver Woodard is a Sales Director for Gas for Silverstream Technologies. He joined Silverstream in July 2021. Specializing in the gas segment, he is responsible for helping owners and charterers navigate the complex landscape to achieve their vessel efficiency ambitions and solve their problems by finding win-win solutions. The gas segment has become Silverstream’s most diverse customer segment, featuring over 65 of Silverstream’s 240+ newbuild and retrofit projects with 10+ owners and their charterers. Before Silverstream, Oliver spent six years at ExxonMobil in a variety of marine roles, including chartering, vessel operations, marine fuels and lubricants in addition to gas and power trading risk management.

Jessie Wilson a Sustainability Manager with over 15 years of industry experience, including more than a decade at ABS. Her background spans marine and offshore classification as well as oil and gas operations, with expertise in drilling, completions, and well testing. She currently oversees sustainability initiatives across the Western Hemisphere, leading a multidisciplinary team focused on advancing innovation, digital transformation, and regulatory compliance. Jessie is recognized for her strategic leadership and her ability to align global objectives with operational execution.

With the demand for methanol as a marine fuel expected to grow rapidly over the coming years, can green methanol production scale enough to help shipowners comply with evolving regulations?

Join us in this episode of Setting Course, an ABS Podcast, as we bring together leaders from across the methanol value chain to discuss the growing methanol-ready fleet, scaling production, reducing fuel costs, and expanding port and bunkering infrastructure.

Featured:

• Greg Dolan, Former Methanol Institute CEO
• Meg Gentle, HIF Global Executive Director
• Sebastian Ebbing, MPC Container Ships Group Sustainability Officer
• Sundeep Shaw, ABS Global Sustainability Manager

Share this episode on social media, leave a review on your favorite podcast platform or send feedback to podcast@eagle.org. Learn more about how ABS is supporting the maritime industry at www.eagle.org.

Footnote: After this episode was recorded, Greg Dolan announced his retirement as CEO of the Methanol Institute. Congratulations, Greg, and thank you for joining this episode of Setting Course.

Key Points

• There are over 1,300 methanol-capable vessels operating or on order.
• Regulatory clarity is essential for shipowners to plan their strategies.
• Industry is working on lowering the cost of green and blue methanol.
• Bunkering infrastructure for methanol is developing but still limited.
• Investment certainty is needed to scale up methanol production.

Guests

Greg Dolan recently retired from the Methanol Institute after holding a variety of senior management positions with MI over the past 29 years, serving as CEO for the past 14 years. He managed MI’s offices in Washington, Singapore, Brussels, Beijing, and Delhi, while directing international governmental relations, media relations, public education, and outreach efforts. He has presented papers on methanol-related topics at more than 200 international conferences and webinars, authored magazine articles, and written book chapters on the methanol industry. He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science from Boston University, and did extensive postgraduate work in Political Communication at the State University of New York-Albany.

Meg Gentle is an Executive Director of the Board of HIF Global. She has over 20 years of experience developing large scale energy infrastructure. She has served in numerous senior management positions and boards of directors of publicly traded energy companies in the U.S., including Cheniere, Tellurian, and Ovintiv. She has a B.A. in economics and international affairs from James Madison University and an MBA from Rice University.

Sebastian Ebbing is an expert in green shipping and clean technology with a robust background in regulatory affairs and sustainability. He currently serves as the Group Sustainability Officer at MPC Container Ship ASA, where he spearheads corporate strategies focused on sustainability, decarbonization, and fleet modernization. His academic credentials include a Master of Science in International Maritime Management and ongoing doctoral research on carbon capture and recycling in maritime transport. He is also a university lecturer and a member of the Management Board at the Institute for Innovative Logistics and Environment located at the Jade University of Applied Science.

Sundeep Shaw is a Copenhagen-based maritime sustainability expert helping the shipping industry navigate the transition to net-zero emissions. With deep operational insight and a strategic mindset, he supports ship owners and managers in areas like carbon accounting, retrofit feasibility and alternative fuels. As Manager of the ABS Copenhagen Sustainability Center, Sundeep also leads research and innovation focused on carbon dioxide reduction and green fuel solutions.

Hydrogen’s potential as an alternative energy source reaches well beyond marine fuel applications. It also has potential for on-land commercial energy and in energy-intensive industrial operations. As such, the transportation of hydrogen by ship could play a key role in the emerging hydrogen value chain.

In this episode of Setting Course, an ABS Podcast, Martin Carolan, Managing Director and CEO of Provaris Energy; Stergios Stamopoulos, Director of Global Sustainability for ABS; and Ibrahim Muritala, Senior Sustainability Engineer and Global Hydrogen Lead for ABS, join host Brad Cox, ABS. They discuss the current state of hydrogen production, the bottlenecks in scaling green hydrogen availability, and the technical and operational challenges in transporting hydrogen.

Please share this episode on social media, leave a review on your favorite podcast platform or send feedback to podcast@eagle.org. Learn more about how ABS is supporting the maritime industry at www.eagle.org.

Key Points

• Hydrogen is gaining momentum as a zero-carbon energy source.
• Investment in hydrogen requires major capital and infrastructure.
• Hydrogen production is currently dominated by grey hydrogen.
• Safety and operational standards are critical for hydrogen handling.
• Scaling green hydrogen production faces significant challenges.
• Compressed hydrogen is simpler for short-distance transport.
• The future of hydrogen depends on technological advancements, infrastructure development and industry collaboration.

Guests
Martin Carolan is Managing Director and CEO of Provaris Energy, a developer of integrated compressed hydrogen projects for export to regional markets. Provaris aims to develop green hydrogen supply chains that are simple and efficient to enable the global transport of zero-carbon energy. Martin holds a graduate diploma in applied finance from the Financial Services Institute of Australasia (FINSIA) and a bachelor’s degree in business from the University of Technology, Sydney.

Stergios Stamopoulos is the ABS Director of Global Sustainability for the Western Hemisphere, leading ABS activities in the Americas and Europe regions. Under his leadership, the ABS sustainability centers in Houston, Athens and Copenhagen are assisting ship and offshore owners, operators and other stakeholders with achieving their sustainability goals. He joined ABS in 2007 as an engineer and has worked in Greece, South Korea and the U.S. in a variety of roles.

Dr. Ibrahim Muritala is a distinguished engineer with over 17 years of experience in academia, research and the energy industry, including the oil and gas, maritime, and offshore sectors. He currently serves as the Global Hydrogen Leader at the ABS Global Sustainability Center in Houston, where he provides strategic leadership in hydrogen-related decarbonization initiatives. As a subject matter expert, Dr. Muritala helps the marine and offshore industries navigate new fuels, offering technical assessments, feasibility studies and strategic guidance across the hydrogen value chain.