Few yards currently capable of most pronounced upgrades

Dr Santiago Suarez De La Fuente, Ship Performance Manager at Lloyd’s Register, warned a DVV Media Decarbonisation panel at SMM last week that just 17 shipyards in the world have the technical expertise to retrofit sails on vessels, and even fewer – around 16 – were proficient in fuel engine retrofits.

It is clear that not only is a major training, but also a recruitment drive is required in the ship repair sector if yards are to meet with overwhelming demand. Suarez’ comments follow a concerning statistic given at a conference earlier in the week by EU director general for movement and transport, Magda Kopczynska, who told the audience that shipyard staff are an ageing demographic, with a recruitment shortfall of around 240,000 workers.

With industry players now in agreement that a boom in the retrofit market is upon us, shipowners will be hard-pressed to secure slots for the efficiency upgrades which will be needed for compliance with regulations. “Propulsion is making a lot of noise – Flettner rotors, wing sails, kites. But [capacity] is quite limited,” Suarez said.

As with everything we're seeing with the energy transition, it's going to ramp up. At least there's a base where we can start to build from.”