Courtesy RNLI The fleet of robust search & rescue vessels from the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (U.K.) has been accepted as a subject in MarineShift360’s yearlong Impact Accelerator program to perform accurate life cycle assessments and inform possible changes to vessel design, construction, and operation.
Until recently the pursuit of sustainability has set any boatbuilders who subscribe to it on a rough and somewhat lonely path. Since the dawn of series-built composite boat production in the 1940s, our industry focus has been on manufacturing efficiency and the durability of the vessels we create. As new technologies allowed onboard systems to become more affordable and efficient, they have, in many applications, become more powerful and complex. In short, innovations in materials and technologies have been reliable sources of competitive advantage in the market and on the water, but we’ve devoted little time to considering their environmental impacts.
The past decade’s regulatory changes informed by broad public concern about sustainability in Europe and North America, have spurred boatbuilders to think twice about the materials and processes we rely on. From harmful forestry practices and staggering fuel consumption rates, to styrene emissions and the resistance to recycling of legacy composite hulls, we find ourselves confounded by threats of ecological peril. How we navigate them is a subject of urgent and sometimes heated debate among industry leaders.
Borrowing from decades of practice in other industrial sectors, boatbuilders have recently turned to the formalized process of life cycle assessment (LCA) as a method of quantifying environmental impacts by tallying material consumption, energy flow, and environmental interaction. But sourcing reliable data to inform an LCA calculation of a vessel’s carbon footprint is difficult, especially in the early stages where many material and components suppliers either have no data, can provide only flawed data, or choose not to release the data they have. MarineShift360, a marine-focused LCA tool funded by the charity 11th Hour Racing, is looking to lower that hurdle by making the software available to more boatbuilders and marine businesses and researchers through its Impact Accelerator program.
In “Counting Carbon,” Professional BoatBuilder No. 210, page 18, Dieter Loibner and yacht designer Brandon Davis shared the experience of working with the MS360 software in refining the design of a 33′ 6″ (10.2m) solar-electric powered cruiser. The ease with which comparable design options could be assessed made decisions about materials, supply chains, propulsion options, and build method more informed if not always easier. A wealth of information doesn’t necessarily simplify the process, but Davis found that clients became fascinated by the challenge of striving for better LCA scores by modeling multiple possible variations. It seems the human mind warms to gamification of most any process.
During that project the software was available to industry players for a fee through Anthesis Consulting Group, but when I met with MS360’s Ollie Taylor at Metstrade 2024 he had become director at Marine Futures Ltd to focus on refining the LCA program and making it available to more boatbuilders. He said the software changes he is pursuing will make MS360 easier to use through compatibility with design programs and other input sources. On the results side, he said he’s aiming to have the program optimize a preliminary design, “to get multiple pathways you could follow within a known framework while still keeping all the performance and structural characteristics.” He’s also looking to make MS360 and associated curriculum available to academic researchers and to schools training naval architects, yacht designers, and boatbuilders in hopes that it will become as common a tool as CAD, CFD, and FEA for the coming generation.
At the time, the Impact Accelerator program was a new idea. Taylor explained it as an effort to encourage action rather than talk about reducing the carbon footprint of boatbuilding, and to “show the industry what best-in-class actually looks like.” With funding from 11th Hour, Taylor and other industry experts will offer a year of deep analysis of relevant LCA inputs such as supply-chain optimization, weight reduction, propulsion options, or adoption of new business models.
In May, Taylor announced the first cohort of companies selected for the year-long Impact Accelerator: “Following a competitive selection process, the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (United Kingdom and Ireland), Secfuel (Sweden), and BAR Technologies (United Kingdom) were chosen for their potential to drive measurable environmental impact and accelerate industry-wide transformation.”
It’s a broad mix, comprising a marine search-and-rescue operation with a bespoke fleet; a fuel infrastructure provider focusing on sustainable fuels; and a sustainable marine technology developer with experience in foiling, electric propulsion, and hull optimization and wind propulsion options for commercial ships. The analysis of their respective programs and services will be tangible examples for other marine companies to assess and emulate. They are also likely to provide useful data and models for designers in search of accurate LCA’s for projects with alternative propulsion options; optimized hull structures, materials, and shapes; and alternative fuels.
As we await the results of these long-term efforts, I recommend reading some of Taylor’s insightful and pragmatic articles about boatbuilding, supply chains, resilience, market changes, and the regulatory landscape. They’re available on LinkedIn:
Why Your ‘Green’ Boat Might Be Hiding a Bigger Footprint
Tariffs Are Just the Start. What’s Really Reshaping Marine Business in 2025
The End of Endless Growth: An alternative view on Circular Economies in a Supply-Constrained World
