Greening the world’s oceans

British eco-technology specialists Martek Marine, who are minnows in the multi-billion pound international marine industry, are at the cutting edge of reducing carbon emissions on the world’s oceans.

CEO Paul Luen announced today that Martek Marine has achieved 95% of the global market for marine carbon emission monitoring systems.

“Air pollution from shipping is under increasing scrutiny from the world media,” said Mr Luen. “The marine industry has to act fast if it is to catch up with other industries and to comply with increased emission-reduction regulations that will be implemented by the International Marine Organisation soon.”

Martek’s system is called MariNOx™ and was the world’s first approved nitrogen oxide, sulphur oxide and carbon dioxide emissions monitor.

“The introduction of emissions control areas and the onset of carbon trading around the world will mean that shipping fleets will be taxed on their emissions. They need to prepare for legislation and be in a position to be able to report their emissions,” said Mr Luen.

“The big bonus for the marine industry is that MariNOx™ provides skippers with the data they require to optimise the efficiency of their engines and reduce fuel consumption. This will obviously reduce carbon dioxide emissions. For every tonne of fuel saved, a vessels carbon dioxide emission is reduced by 3.4 tonnes. Installing MariNOx™ across a fleet could reduce their carbon footprint by the equivalent emissions of hundreds of thousands of cars per year.”

International shipping, like the aviation industry, is not regulated by the Kyoto Protocol, and contributes nearly 3% to global greenhouse-gas emissions, compared to the 1.5% of global emissions generated by airplanes.

In 2005 Martek Marine received two Queen’s awards for Enterprise: for innovation and international trade.