The path to energy-efficient shipping isn’t blocked by technology, it’s shaped by decisions. From fuel-saving coatings to voyage optimization systems, the solutions exist. But what we often see holding progress back are the barriers beneath the surface: how information is shared, how incentives are structured, and how change is managed.
Through our work across the sector, and through conversations on our Seathrough Efficiency podcast, we’ve seen how these barriers playout in practice, and how selected companies are finding new ways to overcome them.
The Barriers Beneath the Surface:
Information gaps
Many owners and operators struggle with imperfect or overwhelming data. When savings projections and performance metrics vary between sources, confidence erodes, and so does momentum.
Split incentives and hidden costs
Efficiency investments can falter when the payback doesn’t clearly land with the party making the investment. Downtime, certification, and uncertain returns add further hesitation.
Risk and capital access
The unpredictability of fuel prices, evolving policy, and technology performance makes long-term investment decisions harder to justify, especially for smaller operators.
Cultural inertia
Even when the technology is ready, organizations aren’t always. Competing priorities, departmental silos, and short-term focus can make change feel riskier than inaction.
What We’re Seeing Across the Industry
Encouragingly, many companies are rethinking how they approach efficiency, not as a one-off project, but as a continuous process. As Nikos Benetis, Technical Director at Greenheart, shared on our Seathrough Efficiency podcast:
“Sustainability isn’t just about compliance, it’s about doing the right thing, consistently. Every drydock, every data point, every conversation is a chance to improve.”
That mindset, focusing on progress through constant evaluation, is becoming more common across the industry. There’s a growing demand for transparent tracking tools that make performance data more accessible and comparable across fleets. Instead of relying solely on supplier claims, operators are validating efficiency gains through independent assessments and consistent monitoring.
We’ve also seen companies treat drydock as a strategic checkpoint, a planned opportunity to upgrade, review, and recalibrate performance goals. Others are breaking down silos by bringing technical, commercial, and sustainability teams together from the start, ensuring shared understanding and ownership of efficiency outcomes. As Lola Caballero, Chief Sustainability and Performance Officer at Cadeler, noted on one of our episodes:
“True efficiency starts when data, technology, and people work together. That’s when sustainability moves from ambition to action.”
This shift toward measurable progress and third-party verification is helping to rebuild trust, between owners and charterers, and between technology suppliers and financiers.
How Companies Are Moving Forward
From our perspective, the companies moving fastest are those that embed constant evaluation into their operations. They don’t view efficiency as a single milestone, but as an ongoing loop: measure, learn, adjust, repeat.
Some of the most effective practices we’ve observed include:
- Continuous tracking of operational data to identify trends and validate fuel savings.
- Third-party assessments that strengthen credibility and ensure transparency.
- Performance checkpoints during drydock or scheduled maintenance to guide retrofit decisions.
- Collaborative review cycles between technical, financial, and commercial teams.
- Transparent reporting frameworks that make progress visible, both internally and externally.
Tools that track real-world performance make invisible improvements visible. Independent verification builds confidence. And regular feedback loops, between people, data, and decisions, turn efficiency from a cost question into a culture.
Shipping’s efficiency challenge isn’t about finding the perfect technology. It’s about building the systems and habits that make smarter decisions possible. When data is trusted, performance is verified, and teams stay curious, change becomes sustainable, and measurable.
View other episodes here: Njord Podcast - Seathrough Efficiency
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