DfT Launches UK SHORE To Take Maritime "Back To The Future" With Green Investment

Thousands of ships and vessels will become greener and cleaner with £206 million investment to support zero emissions, sailing and skilled maritime jobs, part of the Government's Shipbuilding Strategy.

The new Government unit, UK Shipping Office For Reducing Emissions, or known as UK SHORE, will tackle shipping emissions and advance the UK towards a sustainable shipping future. The unit will be housed in the Department of Transport, building on the success of the UK's Clean Maritime Demonstration Competition (CMDC), which launched last year. The CMDC has been given a multi-year extension for UK organisations to accelerate zero emission shipping technologies.

Its the first office created dedicated to making maritime greener, with pioneering new research and development of technology which could make journey by sea as green as they were hundreds of years ago.

UK SHORE will also help develop the infrastructure to enable zero emission technologies and the physical infrastructure needed to power these new-age vessels. The programme will include a multitude of technologies including hydrogen, electric and ammonia, and this funding will place the UK among the leading nations in the development of new and innovative vessels and port infrastructure, supporting its rich maritime industry and coastal communities.

Funding under UK SHORE will relaunch manufacturing hotspots across the UK, creating new skilled jobs and opportunities while levelling up local communities.

The Maritime Minister, Robert Courts, announced the new funding today in Southampton Docks and said: "We are building a green maritime legacy for generations to come."

He added: "This is the biggest single investment in green shipping in the past hundred years, and is a further demonstration that the Government is committed to working with the sector to develop the green shipping technologies of tomorrow."