In June 2025 Project CAPTURED completed the first ever ship to ship offloading of liquefied carbon dioxide originating from an operating container vessel. The Global Centre for Maritime Decarbonisation partnered with class society DNV to document every activity from capture equipment performance through trucking and final industrial utilisation of the gas. Their verified lifecycle assessment offers a chain picture that goes beyond focus on engine exhaust alone.
Why Lifecycle Thinking Matters
Shipping stakeholders usually concentrate on the technical efficiency of a vessel. Yet climate progress depends on understanding where every gram of carbon ultimately travels. By mapping capture, transport, processing and product substitution, the assessment makes transparent whether savings gained on board are cancelled elsewhere. This whole value approach gives financiers and regulators confidence that investments translate into absolute global reductions rather than local shifts.
Results of Project CAPTURED
With a ten point seven percent capture rate the pilot already delivered a seven point nine percent reduction in total greenhouse output. When foreseeable improvements such as waste heat recovery, shorter trucking routes and enhanced handling are introduced the saving almost doubles to seventeen point eight percent. Even more striking, transforming the gas into mineral products for steel and construction unlocks thirty four percent savings at forty percent capture, outperforming permanent geological storage which reaches twenty one percent under identical conditions.
A Fresh Perspective
The study quietly highlights an unexpected opportunity for vessel owners. Industrial partners will pay for consistent streams of high purity carbon dioxide because it displaces primary limestone in calcium carbonate production. That potential revenue can offset onboard equipment costs, turning what appears as a compliance expense into a parallel earnings channel while supporting circular manufacturing.
Conclusion
Project CAPTURED indicates that onboard capture integrated with productive utilisation can yield substantial and profitable climate benefits. Updating international accounting rules to credit avoided emissions will accelerate commercial adoption across the global fleet.