Trust plays a critical role in the adoption of new maritime technologies. When shipowners cannot easily verify performance claims, confidence in those technologies can quickly erode. Across the industry, repeated promises of 5–10% fuel savings have begun to generate scepticism among operators and charterers. This insight looks at how exaggerated or poorly substantiated efficiency claims contribute to a growing credibility gap in the maritime sector.
Marketing hype has already begun to erode trust around energy-saving claims. As Peter Mantel, CCO of Theyr, explained, “You’re always hearing companies offering 5% or 10% savings. Some even go higher, 15% or 20%. It’s led to scepticism in the industry because quite often these claims could never be quantified.”
This widens the credibility gap. Even vendors with genuinely effective solutions struggle to win trust in a market saturated with exaggerated promises. As a result, some technologies that could deliver meaningful benefits are ignored, not because they lack value, but because their claims are no longer believed.
The credibility gap not only slows adoption but also distorts investment decisions. Inflated headline savings steer budgets toward underperforming solutions, diverting capital away from technologies that may be more effective but marketed more conservatively.
As Terje Kristiansen, CEO, Shipnet, stated, “Improving performance against environmental regulations such as better hull coating, retrofit of energy saving devices for example, is capital-intensive.” This may result in deferring other growth-encouraging investments, underlining how shipowners need to be cautious with spending on new technologies.
Vendor incentive distortion also plays a role in the problem. A large proportion of vendor performance statistics comes from vendor-led tests run under each company’s own conditions and methods. These studies are neither standardised nor verified by an independent body, meaning their results cannot easily be compared.
According to Giampiero Soncini, Board Member, Oceanly, this stems from “Part of the shipping industry’s reluctance to share information relevant to gains or losses, which creates a problem for vendor-led studies, as they lack independent verification and standardisation.”
This can create disputes over which data is correct, slowing adoption.
In one case, the MS Beluga Skysails was originally marketed as saving between 10 and 35% of fuel, but EU LIFE project data showed about 5% savings in pilot projects, rising to 10–12% in favourable conditions. This illustrates a gap between marketable numbers and the reality of over-optimistic suppliers or statistics from isolated scenarios.
Download ‘The 5-10% Illusion’ and explore why the maritime industry’s reliance on unverified efficiency claims is eroding trust, and discover a framework to restore measurement discipline.
