Maritime Cluster Northern Germany presents updated guidelines on ship efficiency

Hamburg, 22 September 2025 - The Maritime Cluster Northern Germany (MCN) published the fourth edition of the Ship Efficiency Guide today. The English-language guide offers companies, researchers and politicians practical guidance on how efficient ship operations can be organised as a key lever for more climate-friendly and sustainable shipping.

The publication was compiled by an interdisciplinary team of authors consisting of members of the MCN Ship Efficiency specialist group and external experts from the maritime industry. With their expertise and experience, they contribute to making the complex topic of ship efficiency understandable and practical.

"The guide is created from practice for practice and that is precisely why it is updated annually. International regulation is dynamic and anyone who wants to act efficiently and sustainably needs an overview," says Richard Marioth, Head of the MCN Ship Efficiency Specialist Group and Managing Director of Idealship GmbH.

The Ship Efficiency Guide systematically classifies current international regulations and evaluates technical measures to decarbonise and increase efficiency based on clearly defined criteria. Both newbuildings and existing fleets are taken into account. A separate chapter is also dedicated to the properties, opportunities and challenges of alternative marine fuels. "One focus in the current edition was on the evaluation of combined ESDs, because technical synergies only bring benefits if they really fit together," explains Marioth. "The current issue also added new content on IMO JRC, alternative fuels and an initial look at nuclear drives. Many existing articles have also been revised and brought up to date."

Innovations:

• The IMO Net-Zero Framework has been supplemented by the IMO Ship Energy Efficiency Management Plan (SEEMP) and the IMO's Global Fuel Standard (GFS).
• A separate section was dedicated to the topic of digitalisation on board and its importance for efficient ship operation.
• The chapter on marine fuels has been fundamentally revised and supplemented with considerations on fuels produced by pyrolysis and battery electric drives.
• A new chapter is dedicated to nuclear drive solutions.
• The chapter on technical solutions for improving the efficiency of existing ships has been supplemented by a consideration of the possible combinations of different retrofit systems, including a corresponding matrix.
• Additional technical solutions have been included in the guide to take account of the constantly growing market for new technologies to increase efficiency in ship operation.

The guide can be requested free of charge from the website of the Maritime Cluster Northern Germany.

"MCN 2025 Guide - Ship Efficiency in the Context of International Emission Regulations"