MarTrans - Norwegian R&D centre for Maritime Energy Transition (FME MarTrans)

Research Project, 2025 – 2032

Research center for environmentally friendly energy (FME) Maritime Energy Transition (MarTrans) is an eight-year collaborative project with 65 partners within maritime industry and research. The focus is on research, innovation and education to accelerate the energy transition within the shipping industry, while increasing value creation and exports for the Norwegian maritime industry. With total funding from the Research Council of Norway and the industrial partners of over NOK 300 million, this is the world’s largest maritime research program of its kind.

Main objective:
Accelerate the maritime energy transition and reduce emissions from ships through R&D for innovation and value creation within the Norwegian maritime and energy industries.

Secondary objectives:

1. Enable drastic reductions in the energy consumption of ships

2. Enable safe and efficient use of new energy carrier’s onboard ships

3. Enable reliable and cost-effective green energy supply in ports

4. Establish sustainable energy transition pathways for the maritime sector

5. Stimulate innovation and uptake of new solutions through industry-driven use cases

FME MarTrans will organize its research and education around these areas, and promote innovations and piloting through shipowner-managed demonstration projects. FME MarTrans will use the world-leading research facility Norwegian Ocean Technology Centre in Trondheim that is currently under construction. These new laboratories for model-scale testing of ships and energy systems will be phased in during the first couple of years of FME MarTrans, giving researchers state of the art opportunities to optimize ship technologies and operations.