Copenhagen, Denmark — In a move to foster interdisciplinary collaboration between industry and academia, the Mærsk Mc-Kinney Møller Center for Zero Carbon Shipping welcomes Universidad Austral de Chile as the latest addition to its Academic Partnership platform.  

The inclusion of Universidad Austral de Chile builds on ongoing engagement with the Chilean academic and maritime community and represents a further strengthening of the Center’s global research network. As an Academic Partner, the university will contribute world-class capabilities in marine science, sustainability, and environmental systems thinking — all central to the safe and equitable decarbonization of the maritime sector.  

The partnership supports increased knowledge sharing and collaboration between researchers and industry practitioners, while fostering the development of future maritime professionals and transition enablers.

Commenting on the new Academic Partners, Bo Cerup-Simonsen, CEO of the Mærsk Mc-Kinney Møller Center for Zero Carbon Shipping, said:

We are proud to welcome Universidad Austral de Chile to our growing network of academic partners. Over the past years, our engagement in Chile has shown the value of grounded regional knowledge and deep scientific insight. With Universidad Austral formally joining the partnership platform, we are further strengthening our ability to co-develop solutions that are both globally scalable and locally relevant.

From the Institute of Naval and Maritime Sciences of the Faculty of Engineering at the Universidad Austral de Chile, Professor Joel Perez Osses, shared reflections on the value of the collaboration:

We have been working with the Center since 2023 in the aquaculture green corridor and finally we’ve got the chance to move to the next level of collaboration. We are honoured to be part of this incredible group of academic partners working along the Center and we can’t wait to see this materialised in collaborative projects and studies to support the different segments of our shipping industry.

Universidad Austral de Chile (UACh) is a citizen-founded institution with a public mission, dedicated to higher education, the development and dissemination of science, humanities, technology, culture, and artistic creation. From southern Chile, it contributes with quality to social mobility, decentralization, equity, and sustainable development by educating ethically, environmentally, and socially committed professionals and graduates, conducting research and fostering creation across various fields of knowledge, and actively engaging with the community. 

Universidad Austral de Chile is founded on September 7, 1954, in the city of Valdivia, Chile, its creation responded to the pressing need for a higher education institution in the southernmost part of the country—one that would promote the decentralization of knowledge, culture, the arts, and research. For more information, please visit www.uach.cl

The Mærsk Mc-Kinney Møller Center for Zero Carbon Shipping (MMMCZCS) is an independent, not-for-profit research and development center established in 2020 with funding from the A.P. Moller Foundation. Our purpose is to guide and accelerate decarbonization of the global maritime industry.

Working with our partners, governments, authorities, public sector bodies, scientists, and organizations across the global maritime industry we aim to inform, de-risk decision-making, and spark real climate action.

We are technology agnostic and have no vested interest in specific decarbonization solutions. We explore free of commercial considerations and independent of partner strategies. As a result, we deliver independent analyses of how the transition is progressing and clear, data-driven recommendations for accelerating maritime decarbonization. On top we are maturing solutions to the most pressing problems across the maritime value chain, from fuels to onboard solutions, regulations, and financing.

For more information and overview of partners, please visit www.zerocarbonshipping.com

Rasmus Nielsen, Media Engagement Partner

+45 282536620

rasmus.nielsen@zerocarbonshipping.com