CATL, the world’s biggest battery maker, has vowed to “spare no effort” to electrify parts of the global shipping fleet as it tries to replicate its success with electric vehicles on the high seas.
The Chinese group, which controls 37 per cent of the market for EV batteries and 22 per cent for energy storage systems in power grids and data centres, has deployed batteries on about 900 ships, mostly smaller craft operating close to the Chinese coastline, at ports or in rivers.
Electrifying parts of the maritime sector is central to Beijing’s broader goals of decarbonisation and reducing reliance on foreign resources. The International Maritime Organization aims to halve global shipping emissions, which account for 3 per cent of total carbon emissions, by 2050.