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The companies will collaborate to integrate Calcarea’s limestone weathering process into bulk carrier vessels. Credit: AURELIA Holding BV

Calcarea and Aurelia Design have agreed to develop ocean-based carbon capture technology for use in commercial shipping. The companies will work together to incorporate Calcarea’s limestone weathering process into the design of bulk carrier vessels. Aurelia, on its part, will be responsible for naval architecture, engineering, and integration of the system.

The collaboration centres on a method where carbon dioxide reacts with limestone and seawater, producing bicarbonates that are retained in the ocean. Calcarea’s reactor is designed to accelerate this process on board ships, making use of the continuous circulation of seawater typical in maritime operations.

Both firms plan to create a new bulk carrier design that houses the carbon removal reactor and supporting components within the ship’s framework. The collaboration will address aspects such as seawater flow management, water intake and discharge points, and hull configuration to ensure vessel performance is maintained.

The companies indicate that these modifications will not reduce cargo capacity. A feasibility and concept study is currently in progress, examining the technical and operational requirements for implementation.

WinGD, a Swiss marine power company, has unveiled its first high-pressure liquefied natural gas (LNG) dual-fuel engine, the X-DF-HP.

Showcased at Marintec China 2025, the engine targets applications in ultra-large container vessels (ULCVs). The X-DF-HP will be available in X82 and X92 bore sizes, with deliveries expected to begin in 2028.

According to WinGD, the introduction of the X-DF-HP comes as shipowners face a shifting regulatory environment, with the International Maritime Organization’s Net Zero Framework currently on hold and regional rules becoming more varied.

WinGD noted that the X-DF-HP is made for the operational requirements of ULCVs and is expected to provide improved efficiency compared with established diesel engines and similar dual-fuel designs.

The new engine uses auxiliary systems, including fuel supply pressure, similar to those required by other well-known engine models. This is intended to simplify installation for shipyards.

The Digital Container Shipping Association (DCSA) has introduced a digital tool aimed at improving business identity verification across the shipping and logistics sectors.

Known as Identity Exchange, the new system is intended to address the repeated compliance and know your customer (KYC) procedures that organisations commonly perform when establishing new partnerships in global trade.

According to DCSA, these existing processes can be slow, inconsistent, and costly, and may introduce risk to the supply chain. Identity Exchange serves as a platform that supplies verified company data, allowing organisations to access up-to-date information for due diligence purposes.

DCSA noted that the solution achieved a 95% success rate in delivering verified company data during its initial use. This performance is cited as evidence of its potential to strengthen compliance efforts and expedite the partner onboarding process. 

The development of Identity Exchange involved collaboration with both DCSA’s founding member carriers and sector partners.

A 12-month review by Achilles Network found that 28% of more than 1,000 assessed maritime parts and service suppliers presented high or very-high cyber risk.

The assessment of maritime suppliers’ cyber risk and other supplier vulnerabilities covered environmental, social, governance (ESG) and information security domains.

Procureship has integrated Achilles’ verified ESG and cyber indicators into its procurement platform, making those verified credentials available inside procurement workflows and supplier profiles.

The integration, announced in March 2025 as a long-term partnership, is now live and allows buyers to view Achilles’ Sustainability Scores in supplier search results and to check those scores at the point of quotation evaluation.

The integration aims to give shipping companies direct access to third-party-assessed ESG and information security data during supplier evaluation, supporting supplier selection and supply chain risk management.

By surfacing Achilles’ indicators inside procurement processes, Procureship enables buyers to verify supplier credentials and operational standards as they assess quotations, which may reduce exposure to compliance risk.

A new UK research programme aims to train Maritime Autonomous Surface Ships (MASS) on how to process and respond to official navigational data without waiting for human input.

The project was launched in Plymouth by the UK Hydrographic Office and Marine AI, a company specialising in maritime autonomy software.

Over the next eight months, Marine AI will adapt its large language model (LLM) to convert ADMIRALTY Sailing Directions (SDs) and Radio Navigation Warnings (RNWs) from their current human-readable formats into structured data suitable for autonomous systems.

The integration of this data into Marine AI’s GuardianAI platform aims to support real-time, independent decision-making by autonomous vessels using the same navigational information as crewed ships.

At present, autonomous ships depend on human operators to interpret navigation data that is often text-heavy and formatted in legacy styles. By retraining a tailored LLM and developing supporting AI agents, the project intends to transform unstructured and non-standard information into machine-readable formats for GuardianAI’s tactical functions and human–machine interface.