A joint industry project between the International Maritime Organization (IMO) and the European Union (EU) has been started following formal expressions of interest to host centres to promote maritime technology cooperation and reduce the harmful effects of climate change.
The project, entitled ‘Capacity Building for Climate Change Mitigation in the Maritime Shipping Industry’, will see five Maritime Technology Cooperation Centres (MTCCs) established in each of five target regions – Africa, Asia, the Caribbean, Latin America and the Pacific.
The idea is to form a global network of centres of excellence to provide leadership in promoting ship energy-efficiency technologies and operations, as well as reducing harmful emissions from ships.
The MTCCs will receive €10 million European Union funding for the project, which will be used to improve region capability and help facilitate compliance with international regulations on ship energy efficiency, as well as to promote the uptake of low carbon technologies through pilot projects. In addition, the project will establish a pilot-scale system for data collection and reporting on ships’ fuel consumption to help ship owners and maritime administrators understand this further and will aim to develop and implement strategies to sustain the impact of the MTCC and its activities into the future.
Each MTCC will be hosted by an existing organisation that already retains excellence in industry and government engagement and a track record of regional outreach with the ability to provide the MTCC with in-kind hosting support such as office space and related logistical support.
The IMO is inviting organisations located in the target regions with the capacity to set up MTCCs to submit an Expression of Interest to IMO by 15 May 2016. The selection process will require firstly a call for Expression of Interest, followed by due diligence missions to short listed entities and a call for full proposals. The five organisations whose bids are successful will go on to host MTCCs with initial funding support from the project. They will enter into a contract with the IMO to deliver mutually-agreed project milestones over a three-year period.
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