Japan Engine Corporation (J-ENG) on Friday (18 September) said it has completed land-based testing of the world’s first hydrogen-fuelled engine for large commercial vessels, the 6UEC35LSGH.

During factory testing, the engine achieved a hydrogen co-firing rate of at least 95%, reducing GHG emissions by more than 95% compared with conventional heavy-fuel-oil engines.

By adopting a high-pressure direct injection system, which injects fuel directly into the cylinder at high pressure, J-ENG said the engine achieves stable hydrogen combustion. 

Safety measures were also implemented, including a robust structure to prevent hydrogen leakage and double-walled piping for hydrogen supply lines. 

“Approval testing was conducted in the presence of ClassNK and was completed successfully,” the company said. 

The engine will be installed on a 17,500 DWT multipurpose vessel to be built by Onomichi Dockyard for Mitsui O.S.K. Lines and MOL Drybulk.

Hydrogen fuel will be supplied to the engine through a marine hydrogen fuel system, consisting of marine hydrogen fuel tanks and a fuel supply system, developed and manufactured by Kawasaki Heavy Industries.

In addition, Nippon Kaiji Kyokai (ClassNK) will conduct safety assessments throughout each stage of the engine’s development and the vessel’s design, construction and operation.

The vessel will then undergo sea trials before onboard demonstration testing begins in April 2028. 

Kawasaki will also develop and manufacture bunkering equipment for supplying liquefied hydrogen to vessels. 

“The demonstration will further evaluate the engine’s durability and performance under actual operating conditions,” J-ENG added.

Photo credit: J-ENG
Published: 22 September, 2026

BetterSea, provider of a FuelEU compliance platform and marketplace, and GTT Marine, a business unit of the GTT Group, on Monday (21 September) announced a white-label integration partnership to accelerate FuelEU Maritime compliance for shipping companies.

Under the partnership, GTT Marine will integrate BetterSea’s platform into its own Vesper Insights platform offering, enabling GTT Marine customers and platform users to execute FuelEU trading and pooling end-to-end, directly from the Vesper Insights platform. 

Through this white-label integration, customers will gain access to BetterSea’s full FuelEU infrastructure, including marketplace access, simulation tools, pooling and post-trade workflows, as well as streamlined Thetis reporting capabilities, all within the Vesper Insights environment. 

This creates a uniquely aligned offering for customers seeking a single, trusted route to FuelEU compliance and execution.

As FuelEU Maritime moves into operational reality, shipping companies need more than visibility into compliance exposure. They need the ability to assess options, execute transactions, and complete workflows reliably and at scale. 

The BetterSea-GTT Marine partnership addresses that need by combining BetterSea’s execution-ready FuelEU platform with GTT Marine’s strong position in vessel performance and maritime innovation.

Through the BetterSea-GTT Marine partnership, customers will gain:

• access to FuelEU trading and pooling execution directly within GTT Marine Vesper Insights platform
• access to BetterSea’s FuelEU marketplace
• simulation tools to compare compliance pathways across different regulations and evaluate cost exposure
• pooling and post-trade workflows supported by standardized legal and financial structures
• pool tracking and Thetis reporting capabilities to support the full FuelEU execution process
• fully streamlined and connected route to end-to-end FuelEU compliance

Maximilian Schroer, Co-CEO, BetterSea, said: “This partnership with GTT Marine marks an important step in our mission to make FuelEU compliance and pooling easier to access and execute, while underlining BetterSea’s position as the market leading FuelEU marketplace. 

“By embedding our platform into GTT Marine Vesper Insights offering, we are giving customers a seamless and efficient path from compliance understanding to full trading and pooling execution, all within an environment they already know and use.”

Christian Treu, VP Revenue, GTT Marine, said: “At GTT Marine, we are committed to equipping our customers with practical and high-value solutions for the decarbonisation transition. 

“Through this partnership with BetterSea, we can offer our users direct access to a complete FuelEU execution framework, from simulation to trading, pooling, and reporting, directly via our platform.” 

Photo credit: GTT Marine
Published: 22 September, 2026

With vessels operating for 25 to 30 years and only around 4% of the fleet renewed annually, newbuild decisions made over the coming decade will establish much of the engine capacity available in 2050, Global Centre for Maritime Decarbonisation said on Thursday (17 September). 

Yet having the capacity to consume a new fuel does not guarantee its uptake. Dual-fuel engines allow shipowners to switch between conventional fuels and the selected new fuel as economics and regulations evolve; continued fuel competitiveness is therefore critical to what vessels ultimately consume.

These are among the findings of Navigating the maritime fuel transition: How fuel economics, regulations, and fleet decisions shape the future bunkering landscape, based on a model jointly developed by the GCMD and Boston Consulting Group (BCG).

The model illustrates this dynamic in its base scenario. With the Tier-2 penalty under the IMO Net-Zero Framework held at USD 380/tCO2e through 2050, methanol dual-fuel engines account for around 10% of fleet engine capacity in 2050, but methanol represents just 2% of fleet energy consumption. With conventional fuels remaining more economical under this regulatory regime, methanol dual-fuel vessels continue to operate on fuels cheaper than methanol (Figure 1).

A global carbon price of USD 700/tCO2e materially changes the transition

The base scenario demonstrates how fuel economics can limit uptake even when vessels have the capacity to use new fuels. This picture changes if the IMO Tier-2 penalty rises to USD 700/tCO2e by 2050, at which point new fuels, including dropins, reach approximately 61% of fleet energy consumption (Figure 1).

By contrast, EU regulations alone will not drive a marked global shift, as they cover only around 20% of international shipping’s energy demand.

Overall cost of using e-methanol and e-ammonia is near parity

While a stronger global carbon price can accelerate the shift towards new fuels, the model does not point to a clear cost winner between e-methanol and e-ammonia.

E-ammonia’s production cost advantage is largely offset by higher logistics costs arising from its toxicity, including specialised crew training, larger exclusion zones, and more complex bunkering. As a result, the overall cost (Figure 2) of using e-ammonia and e-methanol is near parity through to 2050.

Professor Lynn Loo, CEO of GCMD, said: “Many vessels ordered over the coming decade will still be operating in 2050. Shipowners are therefore making long-lived engine choices before the relative economics of future fuels are clear. 

“Our modelling puts into perspective just how difficult closing the cost gap between new and conventional fuels will be. The carbon price required to close this gap is substantial. And achieving it will be particularly challenging in today’s geopolitical environment. Understanding the signposts that could change these economics will be critical to the decisions the industry makes today.”

Anand Veeraraghavan, Managing Director & Senior Partner at BCG, said: “The maritime fuel transition is being shaped as much by policy and cost uncertainty as by technology readiness. 

“Rather than offer a single prediction, our approach with GCMD maps how sensitive each fuel pathway’s competitive position is to a handful of critical variables — policy scenarios, key cost drivers, and potential restrictions. Our hope is that this gives shipowners, fuel suppliers, port operators, and infrastructure investors a practical tool to stress-test their own fuel strategies as conditions change.”

Photo credit: Global Centre for Maritime Decarbonisation
Published: 18 September, 2026