Pictured in photo (left to right) Pierre Sames, DNV Strategic Development Director, Nick Brown,
Lloyd's Register CEO, Ninad Mhatre, Zeaborn Ship Management Managing Director, Caroline Yang,Singapore Shipping Association President, John Lloyd, The Nautical Institute CEO and Christopher J.
Wiernicki, ABS Chairman, President and CEO.

PRESS RELEASEMTF Gathers Industry Leaders During Singapore Maritime
Week to Discuss Challenges of Maritime Decarbonisation
Representatives from classification societies, ship managers and industry associations discuss
new report on how to close the gaps for safe operation with alternative fuels.
SINGAPORE 1 MAY 2023. The Maritime Technologies Forum (MTF) brought together industry
stakeholders during Singapore Maritime Week to investigate the findings and implications of its latest
report, ‘Operational Management to Accelerate Safe Maritime Decarbonisation’.
The event included a presentation of the report’s main findings by author Yildiz Williams of Lloyd’s
Register and a panel comprising Christopher J Wiernicki, Chairman, President and CEO of ABS, NickBrown, CEO of Lloyd’s Register, Caroline Yang, President of Singapore Shipping Association, Ninad

Mhatre, Managing Director of Zeaborn Ship Management, John Lloyd, CEO of The Nautical Instituteand was moderated by Pierre Sames, Strategic Development Director for DNV.
The report focuses on the suitability of existing maritime regulations to manage the challenges
presented by the adoption of new fuel types across the maritime supply chain. These include the ISM
Code, the STCW Convention and Maritime Labor Convention, assessing each for gaps and making
recommendations and identifying urgent needs, the relevant actors and barriers to change.
It concludes that there are critical gaps related to safety management, crew training and safety
culture onboard ship that need to be closed to enable a safe transition to a decarbonized shipping
industry. Strengthening each of these elements will be vital to achieve safe operations withalternative fuels, it finds.
The panel discussed the global challenges around alternative fuel adoption as well as the specificknowledge and experience that seafarers, vessel operators, ship managers and regulators need toacquire in a short time span. The report underlines the need for a blend of regulation, industry
guidelines, best practices and government support to close the gaps ahead of current and futuredecarbonisation deadlines.
“Class, as well as flag States are built for the intersection between technology, safety and regulations
and when you look at where we are and the steepness of the curve ahead, the biggest risk is theunintended safety consequences of change,” said Chris Wiernicki, ABS Chairman, President and CEO.
“We’re moving away from a static fuel environment towards a dynamic fuel environment andrecognizing that safety is the mantra of this business, we must be prepared.”“Seafarers are central to achieving the maritime industry’s decarbonisation ambitions and some450,000 crew require extra training between now and 2030. However, training does not equate tocompetence. We have 700 LNG fuel-capable ships on the water today but few of them have been
regularly using LNG, challenging trained crews’ familiarity around onboard equipment and bunkering
procedures,” said Nick Brown, Lloyd’s Register CEO. “As an industry, we need ensure that when crew
are trained, they can maintain competency in managing the multiple fuels and technologies they willencounter during this transition.”
About MTF
The MTF is a forum of Flag States and Classification Societies established to providetechnical and regulatory expertise to benefit the maritime industry. The role of the Forum is towork together on research which it will publish to the maritime industry and draw onregulatory expertise to be able to offer unbiased advice to the shipping sector. It will seek togive guidance on the use of alternative fuels and increased levels of automation in theindustry. Furthermore, it will allow for the safe testing and adoption of new technologies andit will help shape world-leading regulation.
The Flag State administrations include Maritime Bureau, Ministry of Land, Infrastructure,
Transport and Tourism, Japan; the Norwegian Maritime Authority; and the Maritime andCoastguard Agency, United Kingdom. The Classification Society members are ABS, DNV,
LR and ClassNK.
Issued on behalf of the Maritime Technologies Forum. For more information, pleasecontact
Jesse Lashbrook
Strategic Marketing Director

ABS
T +1 281 877 6774
M +1 832 906 0459
E jlashbrook@eagle.org