IAPH and GCMD Partner to Accelerate Ports’ Role in the Fuel Transition

The International Association of Ports and Harbours (IAPH) and the Global Centre for Maritime Decarbonisation (GCMD) have signed a two‑year coalition partnership to accelerate the role of ports in shipping’s fuel transition. 

The agreement, announced at the IAPH 2025 World Ports Conference in Kobe, Japan, aims to strengthen port preparedness for alternative fuel bunkering, port infrastructure development and evolving regulatory frameworks by turning pilot learnings into scalable operations. 

GCMD brings operational experience from value‑chain pilots, such as ship‑to‑ship ammonia transfers, biofuel bunkering trials and liquid CO2 offloading demonstrations. IAPH contributes its global port network and practical tools from its Clean Marine Fuels Working Group.

IAPH has developed into a global alliance of ports over six decades, with over 190 ports and 167 port-related businesses in 89 countries. The member ports together handle well over 60% of the world’s sea-borne trade and over 60% of the world container traffic.

Under the partnership, the organisations will co‑develop and refine guidance, risk‑mitigation strategies and practical toolkits for ports, shipowners, and operators to adopt low‑ and zero‑carbon bunker fuels safely and efficiently. 

The effort is intended to de‑risk long‑term infrastructure investment and support consistent, port‑level operational standards that can be replicated across different geographies and regulatory regimes.

“In nearly all of GCMD’s pilots, ports have been pivotal to our success – whether in enabling the world’s first ship-to-ship ammonia transfer at the Pilbara, bunkering across six biofuel supply chains in Singapore or the Port of Rotterdam, or demonstrating the full value chain for onboard captured CO2 in China,” said CEO of GCMD, Professor Lynn Loo. “Our collaboration with IAPH brings global reach and influence that will help us deepen our work with ports, turning pilot learnings into scalable operations essential for the energy transition.”

“We look forward to teaming up with GCMD’s experts, who will work with our port members to co-develop tools to help further accelerate the decarbonisation of the maritime sector and to derisk long-term investments in port infrastructure, which will be essential for the industry’s energy transition,” said Managing Director at IAPH, Dr. Patrick Verhoeven.

The two‑year timeline is designed to produce immediately usable outputs for ports, while sharing results widely through IAPH’s membership that collectively handles a majority of global seaborne trade. 

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