Research project

MaTroSe

Roadmap to Decarbonisation

Research Project: MaTroSe

The MaTroSe project is developing a roadmap for the energy transition in shipping on the North Sea and Baltic Sea in order to evaluate possible decarbonisation paths and support policy makers, ship owners and other maritime stakeholders in their implementation.

Project duration: January 2023 - December 2025

DLR Institute Partners: Institute of Systems Engineering for Future Mobility, Institute of Networked Energy Systems, Institute of Transport Research, Institute of Combustion Technology

Presently the large majority of ships are powered by oil-based fuels and there is no clear path to decarbonization. Decarbonizing the maritime sector is challenging, among others because there is no one-fit-all solution, and because many promising technological solutions are hampered by a chicken-and-egg problem involving the demand for alternative fuels and the required fuel infrastructure. Against this background, in the MaTroSe project, the department of Ship Integration of the Institute of Maritime Energy Systems together with other DLR institutes is developing an Energy Transition Roadmap for shipping in the North and Baltic Seas.

As a parallel activity, the project also carries out onshore and onboard emission measurements to assess the real-life emissions of ships powered by alternative fuels. The project's intermediate results will be synthesized in a simulation-based methodology that will allow assessing how a large, complex fleet of ships, as well as the associated interrelated requirements, will evolve under different decarbonisation strategies.

With the successful completion of the project, there will be an normative basis for advising policy makers, ship owners and other maritime stakeholders on the energy transformation of specific shipping fleets.

Contact

Martin Bergström

Head of Department
German Aerospace Center
Institute of Maritime Energy Systems
Ship Integration
Düneberger Str. 108, 21502 Geesthacht
Germany