Five of the world’s largest container lines have signalled that onboard carbon capture and storage could become a material pillar of maritime decarbonisation, provided regulators move quickly to remove legal and commercial uncertainty.
A new study by DNV, commissioned by CMA CGM, Evergreen, Hapag-Lloyd, Maersk and MSC, assesses the potential for OCCS across the North Europe to Asia trade. Together, the five carriers represent around 60 per cent of global container shipping capacity and support the International Maritime Organization’s 2050 strategy and associated net zero framework.
The report models an end-to-end LCO2 chain in which exhaust gas is captured and liquefied onboard, transferred to barges in port and delivered to intermediate storage hubs in Rotterdam and Singapore before permanent sequestration. While individual components of this chain exist or are under development, integration at scale has yet to be demonstrated.
In northern Europe, projects including CO2next, a planned liquid CO2 terminal, and ARAMIS, a CO2 transport initiative, are expecting final investment decisions in 2026 or 2027, with operations from 2030. In Singapore, the S-Hub consortium is advancing regional sequestration plans. Although these schemes are primarily designed around land-based emitters, participants at a June 2025 workshop convened by the Port of Rotterdam Authority indicated a willingness to accommodate ship-borne volumes.
The Asia to North Europe corridor has been identified as a candidate pilot as its high traffic density, predictable port calls and proximity to emerging storage clusters offer a controlled environment to test commercial and operational viability. In Rotterdam, the 14,000 TEU Ever Top discharged a tank container holding 20 tonnes of captured liquid CO2, following an earlier discharge in Shanghai. The Port of Rotterdam Authority described this as the first discharge of captured CO2 from a ship in the port.
More than 60 installations are in place or planned, most based on amine systems. Pilots on container vessels and a full-scale installation on a gas carrier report onboard feasibility, although full-scale application on a container vessel remains pending. OCCS can be applied to fossil, bio and electro fuels alike.
Using DNV’s GHG Pathway Model, the study evaluates uptake under three offloading cost scenarios. In the high-uptake case, by 2040 OCCS would be deployed alongside 60 per cent of the energy consumed by the five liners on the corridor. Annual abatement would reach 6.0m tonnes of CO2, with 7.2m tonnes offloaded in ports, more than 1 per cent of forecast global CCS volumes.
Between 2030 and 2050, cumulative offloading costs in the high-uptake scenario are estimated at $7.3bn, representing a substantial revenue pool for barge operators, terminal developers and storage providers. However, the analysis finds that adoption is highly sensitive to offloading charges. If costs rise materially, OCCS loses competitiveness relative to alternative compliance pathways, particularly low-GHG fuels.
The report argues that investment in capture equipment, transport assets and storage infrastructure will proceed only if a supportive framework is delivered in time. IMO guidance on lifecycle assessment, data collection and certification of sequestered CO2 is scheduled for 2028. Formal recognition under FuelEU Maritime, conclusive guidance on the applicability of the London Convention and London Protocol, and national legal clarity over whether CO2 destined for sequestration is classified as waste or commodity are also critical.
