Circular shipbuilding in the Rotterdam region

Shipbuilding is a labour and material-intensive industry, where scarce resources, both raw materials and high-end (electronic) products are needed everyday to create fit-for-purpose, long-lasting ships for many purposes: transport, dredging, fishing, security, research, energy production and more. In the light of environmental, political and societal developments, the need to cut down on emissions and material use and dependency is already felt for some time.

From the very first stages of obtaining materials and designing vessels to the operational and end-of-life phases of each ship, it’s becoming apparent that we need tools to assess the economical and environmental footprint of all shipbuilding activities. We need to take action to ‘reduce, reuse, recycle’, if the industry and its users want to continue to have access to essential materials and keep their commercial models future-proof.

In the greater Rotterdam region, companies, researchers, regulators and other stakeholders are working on new ways to come to a circular, ‘closed-loop’ system. With this system the entire lifecycle of a ship is monitored, which the industry can adapt to the current changes in market conditions, regulatory frameworks, and the availability of (raw) materials.

Cradle-to-cradle insights and environmental performance tools

In the video below Rosanne van Houwelingen, Innovation Project Manager at Netherlands Maritime Technology, the trade association of shipyards and maritime manufacturers, talks about one of the most promising projects: CirclesofLife.

Several organisations in the regional maritime ecosystem have joined this European project to collaborate on developing, testing and validating tools that, once completed, everyone in the supply chain can use to make their environmental footprint more measurable and transparent and structurally cut down on emissions.

Sustainable shipyards

One of the new business models developed by Damen Shipyards Group is ‘Ships as a Service’, and Dewi Wesselman, Project Manager ESG & Digitalisation is in the midst of it.

Together with local and international partners and suppliers in the maritime ecosystem she works towards lifecycle tools and methods for monitoring and reducing the impact of front-to-end shipbuilding processes. Watch the video to find out more.

Doing the work

In the area surrounding the largest port of Europe you’ll find a no-nonsense business climate embedded in a supportive industrial and scientific ecosystem. One company that combines exploration, cooperation and day-to-day execution is EMR, European Metal Recycling. Listen to what Hermen Zevenhoven, Buyer Industries at EMR, has to say about their actions to initiate recycling and reuse of materials needed in shipbuilding.

Whitepaper

In the Rotterdam region several initiatives are moving ahead to make this happen. Read the whitepaper for more info about what we do to foster circularity in the maritime industry in Rotterdam.

Whitepaper - Circularity in Shipbuilding