The UK Chamber of Shipping and CLIA UK & Ireland have launched the UK Alternative Maritime Fuels Coalition, a grouping that matters to institute professionals as it brings competing fuel technology associations under one banner to lobby government with a single voice. The coalition will coordinate industry action and feed evidence into the Government's forthcoming consultation on domestic maritime fuel regulation.

UK Chamber of Shipping is the trade association representing UK based shipping companies, jointly facilitating the coalition and co-chairing the Cruise Industry and Government Forum with the Department for Transport.

CLIA UK & Ireland is the regional branch of Cruise Lines International Association, the world's largest cruise industry trade body.

Additional members include IBIA, SEA-LNG, Hydrogen UK, the Global Methanol Alliance, the UK Ammonia Alliance, eFuel Alliance, the Carbon Capture and Storage Association, the Anaerobic Digestion & Bioresources Association and the Renewable Transport Fuel Association.

The coalition's core demand, ringfencing UK ETS maritime revenue, targets a specific and contested funding mechanism rather than a general decarbonisation appeal.

Maritime entered the UK Emissions Trading Scheme on 1 July 2026, but current scope covers only around 15 per cent of UK related shipping emissions, generating an estimated 138 to 173 million pounds annually, according to the International Council on Clean Transportation. Extending coverage to international voyages could quadruple that revenue to between 570 and 710 million pounds a year.

UK Chamber of Shipping chief executive Rhett Hatcher said, "Access to alternative fuels is one of the defining challenges for the future of UK shipping." CLIA UK and Ireland executive director Andy Harmer said the transition depends on fuels being available "at scale, in the places ships need them."

For the sector, uniting rival fuel technology associations under one coalition signals that individual lobbying has proven less effective than a combined position. For the sector's fuel producers specifically, the ringfencing outcome will materially affect how much public revenue is available to de-risk early infrastructure investment.

Whether the coalition secures binding ringfencing commitments, rather than general funding pledges made so far, will determine how much of the UK's maritime decarbonisation costs fall on industry alone.

Source: Gasworld / Splash247 / International Council on Clean Transportation