DNV and China Merchant Industry set up Joint Technical Innovation Centre to boost carbon neutrality and smart shipping

DNV and China Merchant Industry (CMI) have agreed to establish a Joint Technical Innovation Centre to explore new technologies that promote the decarbonization and digitalization of shipping.

The Centre's official launch came amid a high-profile signing ceremony between DNV and CMI executives at the 2nd World Maritime Merchants Forum 2022 (Shipbuilding Subforum), hosted by CMI in Shenzhen, China. Located at CMI's Shenzhen office, the Centre will act as a platform for CMI and its subsidiaries to carry out innovation collaboration with DNV to explore and promote the application of maritime decarbonization and smart digital technologies.

"The Centre will ensure CMI and DNV can grow together by jointly driving innovation in the areas of decarbonization and digitalization. We look forward to working with DNV to create carbon-reducing and smart solutions that will bring positive change to both business and the maritime industry," said Hu Xianfu, General Manager of CMI.

"This initiative significantly enhances DNV's strategic and business cooperation with CMI as a group and its shipyards. With our vast global experience and broad network, DNV is able to provide critical support and solutions for the R&D, design and manufacturing of vessels and offshore assets, and the future transformation of the shipping industry," said Norbert Kray, DNV’s Regional Manager for Greater China.

The Centre will see joint task groups formed according to cooperation fields and specific projects. They will combine both project-based on-site co-working and remote collaboration on a regular basis. The first project will be a “Ship Key Technologies Study and Implementation for Decarbonization and Energy Transition” for the CMI Group.

“Decarbonization goes beyond our companies, and our industry. It is a task that not one player, nor even one industry, can resolve in isolation. Only through working together we can make the transition and ensure safe decarbonization of the maritime industry. Collaboration is the true fuel of the future,” DNV Maritime CEO Knut Ørbeck-Nilssen said in a video speech during the Forum.