The maritime industry’s approach to decarbonization is often considered within the context of fuels, operational efficiency, regulation and ship design. However, there is another element within the value chain that has the potential to greatly impact the industry’s ability to achieve its net-zero objectives – the shipyard itself.
Ongoing geopolitical volatility has brought renewed focus on the maritime industry, and more specifically, maritime sovereignty. Against the backdrop of sustained global uncertainty, Western States are investing heavily in strengthening their national shipbuilding capabilities. As a result, shipbuilding has emerged as a strategic priority in securing not just trade and national security, but also energy transition readiness.
The state of play
China, South Korea, and Japan together account for around 90 to 95% of global newbuild order volume, which has prompted Western States, such as the US and Canada, to announce significant policy commitments that support maritime regeneration efforts, particularly within naval and icebreaker markets. In 2025, the US Government’s One Big Beautiful Bill provided the US Coast Guard with roughly $25 billion for fleet recapitalisation, including $7.8 billion for polar icebreakers. In Canada, over CAD 6 billion in polar icebreaker contracts and an initial CAD 8 billion for its River-class destroyers have been allocated; and in Europe, the EU’s Readiness 2030 framework enables over €800 billion in defence investment.
Although recent policy signals are designed to support Western shipyard development, the challenge of improving current yard facilities remains multifaceted and complex. Insufficient demand, acute labour shortages within skilled trades, a fragmented and shallow supply chain, alongside ageing and inefficient yard infrastructure are just some of the barriers that nations, such as the US, must address in order to realize their maritime ambition.
Decarbonization starts in the yards
The maritime industry’s efforts to decarbonize continue to face a range of complex challenges, from regionally fragmented regulatory frameworks and insufficient investment in infrastructure, to a general lack of supply to keep pace with significant global demand. However, a decisive factor that will support the industry’s efforts to decarbonize lies within the shipyards themselves.
It is in the shipyard that the clean tech concepts, whether methanol dual-fuel, ammonia-ready architecture, or wind propulsion integration, become physical hardware. If a yard is not capable of building, integrating or retrofitting these new requirements for modern future-proofed vessels, then the energy transition remains theoretical.
This is reflected by the share of alternative fuel newbuild orders. In 2024, more than 500 alternative-fuelled vessels were listed within the global orderbook, representing a 38% year-on-year increase. Of those 500 vessels, 95% of orders were placed with Asian shipyards, which reflects a structural imbalance regarding where zero and near-zero-fuel (ZNZ) ready vessels are being constructed.
The continued development of alternative fuel technologies presents both a unique challenge and a distinct opportunity for modern shipyards. As new fuels are integrated into the supply chain, shipyards are repeatedly being called on to build and retrofit first-of-a-kind projects, where a proven hull carrying a nascent fuel system represents a modified design that requires a new and more disciplined approach to both construction and project management. The ability to navigate this challenge effectively is what ultimately separates yards that deliver on schedule from those that experience delays during the build process.
As clean technologies develop and alternative fuel systems diversify, the maritime industry must be supported by shipyards that are not just capable of building compliant vessels, but have the capability to integrate complex multi-fuel propulsion architectures, manage retrofit programmes at scale, whilst reducing build time for ZNZ-capable tonnage, and enabling simultaneous engineering and modular construction workflows.
Achieving this level of sophistication within a shipyard is a significant challenge, particularly when current shipyards continue to operate, at least partly, within facilities and production workflows originally designed for earlier generations of shipbuilding. In addition, there is limited integration of innovative digital capabilities across the engineering, procurement, production and operational lifecycle. This includes technologies such as Project Lifecycle Management (PLM) platforms, digital twins, planning systems, and production technologies. In short, without a consolidated digital thread, disconnects can emerge between design, procurement, planning and execution.
Solutions such as Elomatic’s Aura APM, which is an asset performance management system that applies this approach in practice, consolidating maintenance history, documentation, and permit management into a single planning layer that turns the industry’s most expensive surprises into planned, predictable expenditure. The EU-funded SEUS project, with Cadmatic as technical coordinator, is designed to achieve a 30% reduction in engineering time and a 20% reduction in assembly time. Results are expected by the end of 2026 and will provide the first validated yard-scale data supporting these types of efficiency claims.
Investment supported by expertise
Developing this level of capability with the shipyard represents a significant challenge. As a result, nations looking to maximize their marine output must look to the proven capabilities of allied partners that have proven expertise in this field.
When vessel data is structured, up-to-date, and integrated into a unified planning environment, drydock and retrofit activity can shift from reactive execution to predictive orchestration. The result is not only reduced cost but significantly improved turnaround time, which is essential for scaling ZNZ vessel build programmes globally.
Elomatic’s longstanding partnership with Seaspan Vancouver Shipyard (VSY) is a prime example of the successful implementation of enhanced shipyard efficiencies. As part of the Canadian Coastguard’s Multi-Missions Icebreaker (MPI) project, Elomatic has supported the optimization of the overall engineering process, whilst implementing in-house project management software to manage all elements of engineering.
Choosing the right engineering partner that has navigated these transitions successfully is what turns a first-of-a-kind gamble into a repeatable capability.
