ION Geophysical Corp.’s Edinburgh-based software group received a grant to advance port decarbonization through its climate-smart platform, Marlin SmartPort, the company said on Sept. 16.

The grant supports the U.K.’s Ten Point Plan to address climate change and help achieve the country’s net-zero emissions target by 2050. The Data-Led Emissions Management (D-LEMA) project is part of the Clean Maritime Demonstration Competition, funded by the U.K. Department for Transport and delivered in partnership with Innovate U.K.

The six-month pilot study will validate whether vessel fuel usage and carbon dioxide emissions can be reliably estimated in and around ports using the International Maritime Organization (IMO) global standard.

In March 2020, part of the Prime Minister’s Ten Point Plan to position the U.K. at the forefront of green shipbuilding and maritime technology, the Clean Maritime Demonstration Competition is a £20 million investment from government alongside a further roughly £10 million from industry to reduce emissions from the maritime sector. The program is supporting 55 projects across the U.K., including projects in Scotland, Northern Ireland and from the South West to the North East of England.

As set out in the Clean Maritime Plan (2019), government funding has been used to support early stage research relating to clean maritime. The program will be used to support the research, design and development of zero emission technology and infrastructure solutions for maritime and to accelerate decarbonization in the sector.

“Today approximately 90% of goods are transported by sea and global shipping accounts for nearly 3% of global CO 2 emissions,” Stuart Darling, senior vice president of ION’s Software group, said. “This grant enables us to continue advancing our maritime digitalization platform, Marlin SmartPort, which integrates systems and data to provide better real-time visibility and actionable intelligence to operate with just-in-time efficiency, minimizing fuel consumption and emissions. Our goal is to develop and validate fuel monitoring capabilities to start tracking and, ultimately, to reduce port-related shipping emissions.”