Comment / Nuclear power the future for box ships – but China may get there first

As the IMO debates today on how to power the future of shipping, China is stealing a march on the west with nuclear-fuelled vessels, one expert said – with the issue moving from speculative discussion to the design phase.

Repowering the shipping industry with ammonia or methanol – the solution proposed at IMO – will be difficult, explained Jan Emblemsvåg, of  the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU).

“Today we use about 400m tonnes of fossil fuel,” he explained. “To get ...