China’s largest shipping entity, COSCO, has formed the China Electric Ship Innovation Alliance. Top national authorities and more than 80 companies have joined the alliance, helping cement the country’s position as one of the world’s leaders when it comes to the electrification of shipping.
The Yangtze has served as the petri-dish for much of China’s electric vessel developments, but over the past year coastal ships have started operating too, with COSCO now keen to take matters more deepsea.
A study in the Nature Energy Journal last year exploring the economic and environmental benefits of direct electrification of containerships showed that dramatic improvements in batteries have unlocked the potential to electrify big containerships today on voyages of up to 5,000 km.
