Reduction of GHG emissions from ships: evaluation of inter-company R&D cooperation models in the case of Hapag-Lloyd

Decarbonization provides a crucial challenge for the maritime industry, resulting in growing concerns about how to achieve the initial IMO strategy on reduction of GHG-emissions from ships. In this context, R&D cooperation has become an important domain for industrial practice, constituting a preeminent strategic framework and vital factor for actively shaping the industry’s development towards a sustainable future. Leading global liner-shipping companies emphasize the importance of R&D to surmount disruptive challenges. However, based on the variety of R&D cooperation models, it remains to be investigated how such collaborations should be configured. This paper seeks to address practical collaboration concepts by defining holistic requirements from a corporate perspective, which are subsequently matched with a portfolio of external stakeholders and cooperation configurations. For this process, a mixed-methods research design has been adopted, sourcing the required information from expert interviews with the primary stakeholder groups and culminating in the construction of two multi-criteria decision-making models to draw dynamic inferences. On this basis, econometric analysis suggests knowledge-based R&D cooperation models, and early-stage involvement of academic institutions and classification societies. This provides the framework for actively engaging in a variety of further technological test-phases in the future, to evaluate imminent GHG-reduction alternatives and perpetuate sustainable value creation. The research results empirically support theoretical literature on environmentally related R&D cooperation and contribute to the understanding of strategic partnerships. This adds economic robustness to a widely discussed topic.