‘Arguably the greatest challenge’: The Future Fuels Mosaic

Seawork 10th - 12th June 2025	Speed@Seawork 9th June 2025	Get Set for Workboat 2050

The 26th edition of Europe’s largest commercial marine and workboat exhibition provides businesses the opportunity to showcase their services, equipment, vessels and supplies to an international audience.	Speed@Seawork on 9th June in Cowes offers a sector specific event that showcases fast vessels operating at high speed for security interventions and Search & Rescue.	The Commercial Marine Network, in partnership with Seawork and Maritime Journal, introduce Series 3 of ‘Get set for Workboat 2050’. An online conference series of expert panels navigating the waters of decarbonisation compliance and looking at practical applications across the workboat industry.
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The full line-up has been confirmed for Session 2 of this year’s Seawork Conferences to tackle the on-going debate about future fuels.

The future fuel mosaic – the latest developments in methanol, hydrogen, and sustainable future fuels for the commercial marine sector will be discussed by experts from the MCA, BMT, Damen and M&H Engines looking at real-world applications of sustainable future fuels.

Future fuels

With more and more vessels coming to market with the ability to run on methanol, hydrogen and alternative fuels, this session will look at the latest vessels and engines in development, new sustainable fuels to run in existing diesel engines, and how this can benefit costs plus carbon emissions.

Moderated by Noel Tomlinson, senior business development manager, Commercial Marine, with BMT, our expert speakers include:

· Thomas Beard, Clean Shipping Service lead, BMT
· Keith Johnstone, assistant director - Regulatory Innovation, MCA
· Wim Boerma, product manager Damen High Speed Craft, Damen
· Barry McCooey, founder & MD, M&H Engines

Thomas Beard will explore the work on integrating dual-fuel designs across a range of fuels, including dual-fuel methanol for a Crew Transfer Vessel that can also be a route to support decarbonisation across an existing fleet with retrofit technology. Beard is a member of the two UK maritime hydrogen working groups and is on the steering group for a research programme on ammonia in maritime.

Hear the latest updates from Keith Johnstone at the MCA, who said: “The transition to alternative fuels is arguably the greatest challenge the shipping sector has ever faced. Government, industry and academia must continue to work closely together as we jointly tackle this challenge.”

Wim Boerma - Damen - will highlight methanol as one of the most promising future fuels for CTVs – but it’s not without challenges. Damen has developed the FCS 3210, which can be offered with a methanol-ready notation. Boerma will focus on the development of this type of vessel and give his insight on overcoming the difficulties faced.

Barry McCooey, M&H Engines, will provide his insight on new fuels coming to market plus M&H Engines’ involvement in developing C14-C16, a direct diesel replacement. McCooey highlights how M&H Engines running on C14-C16 fuel would be a “Near Zero Emissions” engine - find out more during this session at Seawork.

To book your place, simply register on the Seawork website - The future fuel mosaic – the latest developments in methanol, hydrogen, and sustainable future fuels for the commercial marine sector (seawork.com) - and join us in Conference Room 1 at Seawork on 12 June from 11:30 – 12:45.

Interested in attending all 3 sessions at Seawork on 12 June?

09:45 – 11:00 Session 1

Green technology – the impact of regulatory changes for workboats & how this is driving change.
Register here - Green technology – the impact of regulatory changes for workboats & how this is driving change (seawork.com)

14:15 – 15:30 Session 3

Battery technology – an opportunity or a challenge for workboats?7
Register here - Battery technology – an opportunity or a challenge for workboats? (seawork.com)