Decarbonising Maritime Transport: Advanced Energy Systems, Alternative Fuels and Data-Driven Optimisation

Dear Colleagues,

The maritime transport sector plays a fundamental role in global trade and economic development, while simultaneously facing increasing pressure to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and improve energy efficiency. The transition towards a low- and ultimately zero-carbon maritime sector requires the development and integration of advanced propulsion and energy systems, alternative low- and zero-carbon fuels, renewable energy technologies, energy storage, and intelligent operational strategies. In parallel, the increasing availability of onboard and operational data provides new opportunities for data-driven modelling, performance assessment, predictive maintenance, optimisation, and energy management.

This Special Issue aims to present and disseminate recent advances in technologies, methodologies, and applications supporting the decarbonisation of maritime transport. Emphasis is placed on the integration of advanced energy systems with alternative fuels and data-driven approaches to improve vessel energy efficiency, environmental performance, reliability, and economic viability. Contributions addressing both technological development and system-level integration are encouraged, including studies based on numerical modelling, experimental investigation, real-world operational data, optimisation, and techno-economic or environmental assessment.

Topics of interest include, but are not limited to:

• Advanced marine energy and propulsion systems, including fuel cells, batteries, hybrid systems, electrification, renewable energy integration, and waste heat recovery;
• Alternative and low-/zero-carbon marine fuels, including hydrogen, ammonia, methanol, e-fuels, biofuels, and other emerging fuel pathways;
• Energy management and power management systems for ships;
• Data-driven modelling, machine learning, artificial intelligence, digital twins, and predictive analytics for maritime applications;
• Performance prediction, energy efficiency optimisation, voyage optimisation, and intelligent operational strategies;
• Multi-objective optimisation and decision-support methods for marine energy systems;
• Techno-economic, environmental, life cycle, and well-to-wake assessments of emerging maritime technologies;
• Emission reduction strategies, carbon-neutral shipping, and pathways towards net-zero maritime transport;
• Integrated ship energy systems and future maritime energy architectures;

Original research articles, review articles, and methodological contributions addressing these topics are welcome. The Special Issue seeks to bring together researchers and practitioners from marine engineering, energy systems, alternative fuels, data science, and transportation research to advance practical and scalable solutions for the decarbonisation of maritime transport.

Dr. Onur Yuksel
Prof. Dr. Eduardo Blanco-Davis
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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