Marine industry maps out recreational boating’s green future

The International Council of Marine Industry Associations (ICOMIA) this week released a report looking at the long-term options for the recreational boating industry if its members want to reduce their contribution to global emissions.

It looked at a number of emerging technologies from battery-powered boats to hydrogen fuels and even looked at what would happen if we stuck with traditional fossil fuels in its aim to achieve a 90 percent emissions reduction over the next 12 years.

The report's findings will be used by IMOCIA to lobby governments and industry to shape what it believes is the best path for recreational boating to follow as it 

The lobby group’s conclusion? Sustainable drop-in fuels such as recycled vegetable oil and synthetic petrol, and hybrid technology appear to be the most common-sense solutions that will allow the world’s 30 million recreational boats to achieve the same range and performance as they do today – something alternative technologies can’t yet nail.

The findings are contained in a report titled Pathways to Propulsion Decarbonisation for the Recreational Marine Industry, released by ICOMIA at this week’s METSTRADE European recreational boating convention, that the group hopes will influence government and industry to shape a solution to suit everyone.

The report notes that recreational boats currently account for less than 0.1 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions, and 0.7 percent when scaled down to just the global transport industry that is responsible for around 14 percent of total worldwide emissions.

The report says recreational boats are very different to cars in terms of their suitability to alternative methods of powering them, with no silver bullet suiting every boater’s needs – everything from sailboats to jet skis, displacement motor yachts and pontoon boats.

Part of the report’s findings focuses on the hip-pocket hit of moving from traditional fuels to alternatives, with the cost of ownership rising between 5.0 percent and 250 percent compared with the same cost today depending on the boat and the technology used to drive it.

The worst hip-pocket impact would be for displacement motor yacht owners swapping to electric power, who would see costs soar. On the flip side, if jet ski owners swapped to electric power, they’d see ownership costs reduce to less than a fifth of the cost of a petrol-powered version.

As for batteries and hydrogen? The report notes that both of these solutions do not yet have the range – in some cases, up to 90 percent less – or performance to swap out a conventional engine, add weight, take up more room, and cost a lot more to install, although the potential for hydrogen to reduce greenhouse gas emissions is high.

The report also gives pointers to marina owners, suggesting hydrogen and drop-in fuel bowsers are likely to provide a better total cost of ownership over recharging stations for electric boats mainly because they greatly reduce the time needed to refuel.

As for battery and hybrid power? The ICOMIA report says they do have a future, but it is likely to find a niche in the boat rental market where short trips and high running hours make the technologies more viable.

“The sector’s diversity means future decarbonisation policies cannot take a one-size-fits-all approach,” IMOCIA says.

“If policies were to promote exclusively electric propulsion, for example, this would generate better results for craft types with higher levels of utilisation. 

“This option might even have a negative net decarbonisation effect for craft with low levels of utilisation,” it says.

“This implies that a blanket 'one-size-fits-all' policy approach promoting specific technologies would not be the best approach and focus could be on ensuring sufficient flexibility in the types of solutions adopted.”

ICOMIA president and former Boating Industry Association chief Darren Vaux said despite previous advances in decarbonising the recreational boating industry, it recognised and embraced the challenges and opportunities of creating a sustainable future.

“We are excited to support and encourage the latest innovations to create a better boating experience,” Vaux said. 

“Sustainable marine fuels allow boaters to act now while the industry continues innovating and investing in new technologies that push the boundaries of what’s possible. 

Through this research and a global education campaign, we’re uniting the recreational marine industry around a portfolio of solutions that creates positive change through multiple pathways and a framework to collectively move our industry forward.”

ICOMIA has launched the Propelling our Future website as part of a campaign to promote the report’s findings.

The Boating Industry of Australia has labelled the report's release as "a significant event" for the local industry.

“ICOMIA commissioned the study to provide the recreational boating sector with focus on the global challenge presented by greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions,” BIA president Andrew Scott said.

“Whilst the recreational boating sector contributes 0.08 per cent of global emissions when compared with 20 per cent by the transport sector, we understand we have a contribution to make in mitigating the threat and risks from GHG.

“BIA is a member of ICOMIA and holds key roles on its sustainability committee, and we support informed discussions.

“The BIA welcomes the opportunity to host what will be some of the first industry briefings in the world on this report," Scott said.

“BIA also acknowledges the support from the Queensland Government to deliver industry briefings at the Gold Coast, Brisbane, Mackay and Cairns.”

Briefings will be held at:

Anyone interested in attending the seminars can register their interest by emailing info@bia.org.au by November 20.

The BIA will share the briefings' findings with its wider membership via a webinar.