Following the announcement by the Department for Transport (DfT) of a sixth round of the UK SHORE ‘Clean Maritime Demonstration Competition’ earlier this year, the winners have now been announced. CMDC6 sees £30million of funding made available across three strands focused on pre-deployment trials, feasibility studies, and smart shipping.
Mersey Maritime hosted a special CMDC6 industry briefing with representatives from the DfT, Innovate UK, and Innovate UK Business Connect on 11 February 2025, with the support of Liverpool John Moores University.
A number of businesses and organisations associated with Mersey Maritime have been successful in this funding round, including the University of Liverpool, Maersk, Stone Marine Propulsion Ltd, GT Wings, Bibby Marine, and the Connected Places Catapult.
£700,000 of investment
This announcement secures over £700,000 of investment for Mersey Maritime members, which will support growth and innovation, including across the North West and Liverpool City Region.
The projects are grouped across the following three strands of activity:
Strand 1 – Pre-deployment trials
- The University of Liverpool is part of a multi-region consortium working on a project focused on a ‘smart renewable energy generation and storage system for sustainable coastal power (SMARTPOWER)’.
- Maersk Line UK is working with partners on a project focused on a ‘zero emission refrigerated freight container with solid-state cooling and novel insulations’.
Strand 2 – Feasibility studies
- The University of Liverpool is working with consortia partners on a ‘maritime future fuels training plan.’
- Stone Marine Propulsion Ltd will support a project focused on a ‘techno-economy feasibility study of manufacturing digitally enabled efficient propellers.’
- Connected Places Catapult is a partner in delivering a project focused on helping to create an ‘Isles of Scilly clean maritime corridor’. Although the Isles of Scilly are certainly ‘out of region’, Mersey Maritime works closely with CPC on a range of maritime-focused projects.
Strand 3 – Smart shipping
- GT Wings is the lead partner in ‘Project AirTwin: AI control, weather routing and digital twin systems for optimal wind-assisted ship performance’.
- Bibby Marine is part of a consortium working on a project focused on ‘virtual reality-based immersive education for next-generation zero emission vessels (VRIVEN).’
UK SHORE funding support
Simon Eardley, Head of Policy and Innovation at Mersey Maritime, commented: “Mersey Maritime is delighted to see North West-based or associated businesses and organisations benefiting from the latest round of UK SHORE funding support to help deliver the necessity of decarbonisation within our sector."
"This most recent announcement around the Clean Maritime Demonstration Competition round six ‘winners’ demonstrates again the capability and innovation potential that the Liverpool City Region and wider region offers as we transition towards a cleaner, greener maritime industry. Crucially, this focus also helps to deliver much needed economic growth – that’s jobs and resources to invest in wider priorities across the economy."
"We remain committed to supporting industry on its decarbonisation and innovation journey. That’s why this year we’ve been heavily focused on our industry, academia, and government backed Navigating Maritime Innovation in the LCR project. We would encourage anyone who is yet to engage with us on the project to reach out and do so.”
