SIBCON 2024: Maersk Keeps an Open Mind on Nuclear Propulsion

Emma Mazhari appeared on a panel session at Sibcon on Wednesday. Image Credit: Ship & Bunker

Container shipping giant AP Moller-Maersk is open to the possibility of using nuclear propulsion on its ships when the technology becomes commercially available to the shipping industry.

The firm looks at a wide range of future decarbonisation technologies for its fleet, and nuclear is one of the long-term options under consideration, Emma Mazhari, CEO of Maersk Oil Trading, told Ship & Bunker on the sidelines of the Sibcon industry event in Singapore on Wednesday.

"At Maersk we look very broadly at our decarbonisation options, at fuels, electricity, also nuclear," Mazhari said.

"We talk about safety -- and safety is also, of course, a massive concern for ammonia -- and there's a lot of technological advancement in this space.

"I would say, could [nuclear] be an option potentially, for certain types of ships and on certain routes?

"Potentially, but we're certainly not there yet. I think here we're talking very long-term adoption."

In August nuclear technology firm Core Power announced a a joint development project deal with Lloyd's Register to undertake a nuclear propulsion feasibility study. Maersk will join that study, which will look into the regulatory feasibility and frameworks that would need to be established for a nuclear container ship using a fourth-generation reactor to undertake cargo operations at a European port.

Core Power has said it expects to receive the first orders for nuclear reactors from the shipping industry before the end of this decade, with orders for floating power plants likely to emerge first before being followed by orders for use in propulsion.