The Chilean Ministries of Energy, Transport and Foreign Affairs are carrying out an initiative that seeks to develop “green” maritime corridors, that is, maritime routes between the main port centers where zero-emission solutions are generated.
While the latest report from the World Maritime Forum, prepared on behalf of the Getting to Zero Coalition, identified some 20 initiatives globally, only a couple are in the feasibility stage. And one of them is being developed in Chile.
Federico Bernardelli, Senior Advisor of the International Relations Office of the Ministry of Energy and panelist at Trans-port 2023, explained that the initiative was conceived in 2021 at COP26 in Glasgow and Chile is working together with the Center for the Decarbonization of Maritime Transport Maersk Mc-Kinney Moeller, based in Denmark, who are at the forefront of decarbonization of the maritime sector.
“During 2022, a pre-feasibility study was developed, which mapped 18 potential green corridors to be decarbonized, nine domestic and nine international. The study was presented in December and all stakeholders in the maritime and energy sector were invited,” he explained.
At the beginning of this year, the decision was made to select two corridors to enter the feasibility phase. This stage begins with the creation of a public-private consortium, where different companies are responsible for studying each of the links in the value chain that serve to completely decarbonize a maritime corridor.
"We are talking about the production of clean fuels - which are substantially derived from hydrogen -, port operations at the port of departure, bunkering and ships fueled by clean fuels - and port operations at the port of arrival," Bernardelli said.
In the coming days, the formation of the public-private consortiums will be announced and the study phase of each segment of the value chain will begin, led by private companies. It is expected to be completed by the end of 2024.
The Energy representative indicated that “then the implementation phase begins, where each company that is leading the segments will close the gaps that were identified. The objective is that within this decade we can have the first international green corridors operating from Chile to Europe and Asia. Potentially, it may be of great interest at a later stage to develop corridors associated with the sectors with the highest level of exports in the country,” he added.
Chile is at the forefront of the world and is one of the pioneers in the development of these green maritime corridors.
