Unrest in the Middle East tends to send ripples through the region—with consequences for the rest of the world. This time is no exception.
As a result of the war in Iran, large oil tankers have for a long period refrained from sailing through the troubled hub of all oil transportation: The Strait of Hormuz. The uncertainty and the standstill in oil shipments have caused oil prices to skyrocket.
For Harry Bingham, a marine engineer and professor at DTU Construct, this brings back memories of the beginning of his academic career at Cornell University in the United States in the 1980s.
"When I was taking my BSc, we had just come through the oil crisis, and sky-high oil prices meant a strong political will to transition to green energy in the shipping industry. There was a huge focus on installing sails on large ships and on wave energy," says Harry Bingham.
When Jimmy Carter was president of the United States, he dreamed of contributing to a sustainable transition in the shipping industry that would change the world forever.
"The president was all in on green energy. The atmosphere was intense and incredibly focused," he recalls.
Harry Bingham wrote his BSc thesis on installing sails on large ships—and was convinced that he wanted to go straight into the industry and put theory into practice.
Driving force
Today, 40 years later, that dream remains intact. But still unfulfilled.
A postdoc position in Denmark brought Harry Bingham to DTU, and for the past 26 years, through his research and teaching on energy efficiency in ships, wave energy, and the use of wind power during the launch of commercial vessels, he has worked to ensure that the ambitions for a green transition in shipping can one day become a reality.
"Wind and wave energy have been the driving force throughout my career. It has always been at my core, even though I've sometimes had to think about making a living and instead find my passion in the world of mathematics. But I've always come back, and I've always stuck with it," he says.
Along the way, several significant shifts in the maritime sector have required rapid adaptation and a gradual rediscovery. He himself remembers most vividly when the last major Danish shipyards began closing down and moving production to Asia in the early 2000s.
"This had a major impact on many of our programmes and on the teaching of shipbuilding, because the nature of the demand for traditional skills among marine engineers suddenly changed. It required us, as educators, to stay true to our core competences—but at the same time to see new opportunities," he says.
The maritime programmes at DTU were gradually adapted to meet societal needs, and today the core work of marine engineers focuses more on consulting and the development of energy-efficient maritime equipment—such as engines, propellers, and high-tech control systems—than on the actual construction of large ships.
