Members of the maritime industry across the United States and Canada have come together to form the Blue Sky Maritime Coalition, a non-profit strategic alliance developing and taking action on projects to achieve a commercially viable net zero emissions waterborne logistics sector.

The coalition includes shipowners, builders, charterers, financiers, classification organisations, port authorities, government and non-government organisations across the United States and Canada. Membership in the coalition is open to all stakeholder organisations who are willing to meet the membership obligations by actively participating in achieving the coalition’s stated objectives and comply with the organisation’s collaborative and antitrust provisions.

Founding members of the coalition include ABS, Bay Houston Towing, Caterpillar, Centerline Logistics, Chamber of Shipping of America, Citi, Crowley, Green Marine, Holland & Knight LLP, Kirby Corp., Lloyd’s Register, Marine Money, Marsoft, MIT Sea Grant, Moran Towing, OSG, Port Houston, Purus Marine, Shell, The American Waterways Operators, The Water Institute of the Gulf, Vancouver Fraser Port Authority, Wärtsilä North American, Inc., and Washington Maritime Blue. Additionally, DNV, Matson and Seaspan are supporting sponsors, and the Getting to Zero Coalition is a knowledge partner of the coalition.

Within the maritime sector, there are different types of challenges and entirely different value chain models, whether waterborne activities move products globally from one continent to another, or through thousands of miles of inland, Great Lakes and coastal waterways. Concentrated on regional waterborne transportation across North America, the coalition’s focus complements other organisations’ efforts targeting maritime decarbonisation goals.

“Blue Sky Maritime Coalition was born from the realisation that the United States and Canada maritime operations are uniquely challenged by this goal of reaching net zero carbon emissions from maritime activities,” said David H. Cummins, Blue Sky Maritime Coalition president. “We believe that decarbonisation is possible, but only if all stakeholders along this end-to-end value chain are willing to rally together to take advantage of the opportunities in this landscape and address these challenges through cross-sectoral collaboration.”

The Coalition is governed by a board of directors with day-to-day activities performed by the executive management team.