Our Focus Areas.

Manufacturers. Users. Battery Experts

Our Focus Areas

The focus of the Maritime Battery Forum is on five main areas related to maritime batteries and marine electrification: Technology, Applications, Safety, Standardisation, and Sustainability. Our aim is to keep our members informed and updated on the latest developments in these areas. In a rapidly developing industry such as maritime batteries it can be a challenge to keep yourself and your colleagues up to date on all that is going on with the technology.

Especially if this is not your core business. An average shipowner doesn’t have a battery expert to keep track of the latest developments in battery technology. Most shipyards or ship designers do not have the time to invest in educating their people on the latest insights in maritime battery safety. And that is why we support our members with providing them with a neutral source of information, so that they can focus on making, using and understanding batteries in the best way possible.

Technology

At the start of 2024 there are close to 50 different maritime type approved battery systems available on the market, divided over the different, largest, class societies. This number keeps on growing every year. Even as Maritime Battery Forum we must admit that we don’t know the details of all these battery systems. But we are doing all we can to keep up with these developments. Considering it is already difficult for us to keep up with the pace of these developments.

How can ship owners, yards, designers, integrators, insurance companies, or anyone else who has to deal with these systems manage to stay up to date? That is one of the reasons why our members join the Maritime Battery Forum. We investigate all the ongoing developments on new battery cell technologies, new trends in battery system designs, and innovations on battery safety, and make this information available to our members.

VARD - Sea Charging Concept

Application

In 2023 we have welcomed the 1000 th battery powered ship in our ship register and the number of full electric, hybrid and plug-in hybrid ships sailing around the world keeps on rising. We use our database of battery powered ships to keep track of the market development, identify trends in marine electrification, provide our members with market intelligence, and inform the public, industry, and governments about the opportunities for batteries in shipping.

Almost every imaginable ship type is represented in our ship register, but many different types of batteries are being used for different reasons on board the large variety of ships sailing on the world’s oceans, seas, lakes, and rivers. We support our members by making this information available in a structured and clear overview, so that everyone can find the relevant information for their specific part of the maritime industry.

Safety

It is not hard to find videos online of exploding batteries or burning electric vehicles. Yes, some type of lithium-ion batteries will result in fireworks when you drive a nail through it, and others will not. Although you might have bigger problems on board your ship if there are nails flying through your battery space, installing batteries does come with some required safety measures to make sure they are safe for use on board ships.

We are aiming at the highest level of safety within our industry and therefore the MBF focuses on sharing knowledge and information on all safety aspects related to maritime batteries. There is no need to compete on safety and therefore we collaborate to define this required safety level. We share lessons learned after analysing incidents with batteries and help to solve challenges when it comes to firefighting on board battery powered ships.

Sustainability

Sustainability is a key word in why we do what we do. Our mission is to accelerate the adoption of safe maritime battery solutions to enable emission reductions. Batteries are an excellent tool to reduce emissions or even enable zero emission sailing, as well as increasing comfort and reducing maintenance on board. However, also batteries are not perfect. Specific types of batteries require materials that have a negative environmental or social impact.

That is why we support efforts to reduce the needs for these types of materials in the batteries that we use. This can be the development of new types of battery technologies using more abundant materials or highlighting the importance of recycling of batteries. Batteries are only a part of the energy transition in the maritime industry, but let’s make sure we do this part in the right way, so that everyone can benefit from our efforts to electrify shipping.

Standardization

There is not one standard battery that suits the needs of all ships. The fast developments in battery technology, but also in hybridization of ships, creates a constant changing world of requirements for technology and the interfaces between batteries, ships, charging stations, and other equipment. Standardisation is a useful tool for accelerating the adoption of a technology, but it should not stand in the way of innovation.

We constantly evaluate the possibilities for standardisation to accelerate the adoption of safe maritime battery solutions with our global community of maritime battery enablers. This can be related to containerized battery systems, charging systems, battery diagnostics, or safety systems. We want to achieve a higher level of standardisation to make certain things easier, without limiting the freedom for innovation. Because if one thing is for sure, it is that the development of maritime battery technology is just getting started.

Sparky - Damen

Financing

The electrification of the maritime industry requires a shift from CAPEX driven projects to OPEX driven projects. A battery powered ship will be more expensive compared to a ship powered by a combustion engine in most cases. Although battery prices are decreasing, we need to focus on lowering the operational expenses to be able to make batteries financially feasible. Regulations as well as governmental incentives are making it increasingly easier to design battery powered ships with a short return on investment.

We provide our members with the latest insights on creating economically feasible battery powered ships and share interesting financial opportunities for innovative projects. But developing an economically feasible project starts with making the right choices for technology. Therefore, we support our members with the necessary knowledge and tools to make the right decisions for the battery technology that suits their needs.

Get in Touch

We are all about sustainable solutions in the Maritime Industry. Want to join us? Need help in your company’s transition? Send us a message and the MBF team will schedule a meeting to discuss your needs.

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