Through our networking activity we have developed relationships with individuals and organisations addressing the global need to drastically reduce carbon dioxide emissions from shipping.
In 2016, during our campaign for the restoration of Govan Graving Docks, we were approached by the team behind the Cutty Sark replica project about the potential for their ship to be built on the Clyde. They had identified Govan Graving Docks as a potentially suitable site for the project. One of the aims of the Cutty Sark replica project was to develop a sail cargo vessel for zero emissions transportation of non perishable goods. Although the Cutty Sark replica project has now moved to Portugal, their interest in Govan prompted us to look more at sail cargo as something that could be developed on the Clyde and how it can contribute to making the region more sustainable.
We established links with Netherlands based Fairtransport (who contributed a poster presentation to our Turning the Tide On the Clyde project launch exhibition at the City of Glasgow College in June 2019) and Argyll based Fair Winds Trading Company, which is developing concepts for wind powered shipping projects serving communities on the West Coast of Africa. We were delighted to welcome Fair Winds Founder & CEO Madadh MacLaine as a member of our board of directors and with the benefit of Madadh's extensive expertise we have been able to look at sustainable shipping more broadly.
An important element of transition to sustainable shipping is development of zero emissions fuel such as hydrogen which has much greater potential than wind power to transform the larger scale shipping industry. While sail cargo is beneficial in terms of creating smaller scale projects, it cannot provide a blanket solution to sustainability of cargo and passenger shipping on the scale that world economies need.
We are addressing whether the Clyde can have a role to play in a shift towards zero emissions shipping and whether this could create new opportunities for industry and shipping in the region. We are also considering whether more can be done to develop the Clyde corridor as a transport artery connecting the region into the heart of Glasgow. This will involve retention and development of maritime infrastructure on the Clyde and so the broader project entails research, advocacy and stakeholder engagement to help ensure that waterfront space with maritime potential is not lost to housing and commercial redevelopment. As such, promotion of sustainable shipping is at the very core of our mission, to protect the maritime heritage of the Clyde and ensure it continues to develop. Eventually all shipping will be sustainable by necessity.
Our sustainable shipping advocacy and stakeholder engagement is promoted through our Clyde.Scot digital platform.
