Paul Simavari Selected for Future Seawork 2025 Award

PhD Researchers Inland Waterway Decarbonisation Project Recognised Amongst UK's Most Promising Maritime Innovations

Newcastle University PhD researcher Paul Simavari has been selected as one of the top three winning projects for the prestigious Future Seawork 2025 competition, recognising his groundbreaking work on decarbonising inland waterway transport through dynamic energy demand modelling.

The Challenge: Decarbonising Flexible Waterway Operations

Current infrastructure strategies for decarbonising inland waterway transport focuses mainly on fixed shoreside charging, which doesn't reflect how vessels actually operate. Freight barges, workboats, and passenger vessels often run flexible routes across regions, frequently operating far from major ports where fixed infrastructure is viable.

Paul's research focuses on understanding how, where, and when vessels use energy, so we can plan smarter, more flexible ways to supply it. Instead of forcing vessels to fit the limitations of current infrastructure, Paul believes that infrastructure should adapt to how vessels actually move and operate.

The long-term goal is to support the development of new energy delivery systems—potentially mobile, modular, and dynamic, all controlled and monitored from a central system—that meet vessels where they are, not just where the charging points happen to be. By building a clearer picture of real-world energy demand, this project aims to lay the groundwork for practical, scalable solutions that can accelerate decarbonisation across Europe’s inland waterways.

“The future of inland waterways is not just a regional issue—it's global. If we can decarbonise these vital trade routes that run through our towns and cities, then we don’t just clean up local emissions; we reshape the backbone of global logistics for a net-zero world.” Paul Simavari

The Project

Decarbonising inland waterway transport is a big challenge, yet current infrastructure strategies  —focused mainly on fixed shoreside charging —do not reflect how vessels actually operate. Freight barges, workboats, and passenger vessels often run flexible routes, across regions and far from major ports, making fixed infrastructure unviable.

This PhD research tackles a critical gap: there is no dynamic, scalable model for predicting inland vessel energy demand. Without it, infrastructure investment risks missing the mark.

To address this, the project will combine vessel tracking data, technical specifications, and operational behaviours to model energy demand across vessel types and routes. This will help identify where fixed infrastructure works, and where alternative energy delivery methods are needed.

The research will offer a data-driven foundation for smarter infrastructure and future innovations in mobile, scalable energy delivery—accelerating decarbonisation without waiting for the grid to catch up.

Commercial Potential

Fixed charging infrastructure is expensive, slow to deploy, and often incompatible with how inland and coastal vessels operate. Many operators, especially those in remote, untimetabled, or multi-jurisdictional environments, cannot rely on it. This creates a commercial and logistical barrier to decarbonisation.

m

This research opens the door to a new model: flexible, infrastructure-light, energy delivery. By predicting vessel energy needs using real-world data, the project will lay the groundwork for deployable energy transfers, that can serve vessel fleets in real-time.  The potential is significant. This model can support ‘energy-as-a-service’ and can be scaled to suit multiple vessel types across European inland waterways. It can offer fast deployment, minimal disruption, and improve return on investment cases for zero emission solutions—particularly for operators under regulatory pressure to decarbonise.

Grounded in real data and scalable modelling, this work will have the potential to reshape marine energy logistics at a critical moment for the industry.

The Research Solution

Paul's PhD research tackles a critical gap by developing the first dynamic, scalable model for predicting inland vessel energy demand. The project combines:

This integrated approach will identify where fixed infrastructure works and where alternative energy delivery methods are needed, providing a data-driven foundation for smarter infrastructure planning and future innovations in mobile, scalable energy delivery. The energy demand across multiple complex contexts, from vessel types to differences in operational profile make the prediction of energy demand almost impossible without data sharing and predictive modelling, fed from live data. This wont happen overnight, but a strong foundation built on actual vessel knowledge and contextual understandings can help the transition to zero-emission power and propulsion technologies happen more quickly.

Looking Ahead to Seawork 2025

The Future Seawork 2025 exhibition will provide Paul with a platform to showcase his research to industry leaders, policymakers, and potential commercial partners. His project will be featured in the Maritime Training & Careers Hub, adjacent to the Innovations Hall, from 10-12 June 2025.

Exhibition Details

Location

Maritime Training & Careers HubSeawork Exhibition, Southampton

Dates

10-12 June 2025Awards: Tuesday 10 June, 17:30-19:30

Expected Attendees

7,500+ maritime professionals300+ exhibiting companies

Media Coverage

Maritime Journal featureSeawork.com spotlight

---

Paul Simavari - ZEIWW and Newcastle University Researcher

Marine engineer, researcher, and advocate for practical decarbonisation of Europe’s inland waterways. I write to share insights, challenges, and progress from my PhD journey — with the aim of turning data into real-world solutions that work for the people who rely on these waterways every day.

---