 | WELCOME TO OUR 2025 autumn NEWSLETTER |
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| A Message from Our CEO While the decision by the International Maritime Organization’s Marine Environment Protection Committee (IMO MEPC83) to postpone adoption of the IMO Net Zero Framework by one year is disappointing it’s not surprising. There’s never been a sensible global emissions policy that helps the industry transition to sustainable practices. And yet we’re still seeing the rapid adoption of wind-assist technology because it makes commercial sense without stringent climate penalties. Of course it’s even better with them. |
| People aren’t daft. We can see the predictions made by climate scientists a quarter of a century ago are demonstrably accurate. Climate science doesn’t change and nor does our resolve to develop irresistible business proposals to de-risk the uptake of our plug-and-play, circular design FastRigs. They deliver real value through lower fuel consumption, commercial resilience in volatile commodity fuel markets, with no upfront cost. I am deeply grateful to the IMO Secretariat, the Chair, the negotiators, the NGOs, and the industry representatives who are committed to making global shipping more sustainable. SGS salutes you. We keep to the truth and we hold our nerve. This quarter, we are pleased to share with you: Di Gilpin Named Entrepreneur of the Year#Economist SGS at Glasgow’s ‘Art of the Possible’ event Watch Di at the Economist Impact’s 9th Sustainability Summit The SGS team at London International Shipping Week Listen to Di featured on the Wavemakers podcast Our work in the media Thank you for your continued support. Let’s keep pushing forward — together. |
| Diane Gilpin CEO, Smart Green Shipping |
Di Gilpin Named Entrepreneur of the Year
SGS Founder & CEO Di Gilpin has been named both Entrepreneur of the Year and Transport Professional of the Year at the 2025 Women in Green Business Awards — celebrating her role as a leading force in the UK’s green economy.
SGS at Glasgow’s ‘Art of Possible’ Event
A spirit of can-do innovation has always been at the heart of our ethos. That’s why we were pleased to have SGS Head of Communications, Samira Nadkarni, invited to Glasgow’s ‘Art of the Possible‘ panel discussion on transport innovation — where she shared our unique end-to-end systems design approach to maximising the benefits of wind-assisted propulsion for shipping.
Watch Di Gilpin at Economist Impact’s 9th Sustainability Summit
At The Economist Impact’s 9th Sustainability Summit for South-East Europe & the Mediterranean in Athens, SGS CEO Di Gilpin reflected on the milestone of SGS’s industry-first sea trials — completed on time and on budget one year ago — and how their scientific rigour now powers new business models through FastReach, our ‘Wind-As-A-Service’ platform, delivering 2.5x the revenue of conventional sales models.
The SGS Team at London International Shipping Week
The Smart Green Shipping team — Di Gilpin, Ian Haugh, Neil Rogers, Samira Nadkarni, and Thomas Basham — engaged with customers, partners, and colleagues at London International Shipping Week 2025.
At the Marine Energy Transition Forum hosted by ship.energy, COO Neil Rogers highlighted that investment is not yet ready to support maritime’s transformation, with Series A funding gaps persisting despite a projected $40 billion wind-assist market by 2034.
Speaking at the Royal Institution of Naval Architects seminar on wind propulsion, supported by the International WindShip Association, CEO Di Gilpin emphasized that scaling wind-assist technologies is now the industry’s key challenge, discussing strategies from wind-ready vessels to shared lifecycle risk.
At Clean Maritime Day, we were pleased to welcome Keir Mather MP, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Maritime, Aviation and Security, to our booth where representatives from the University of Southampton, Houlder Limited, Malin Group, Caley Ocean Systems, Humphreys Yacht Design, and Argo Engineering — all valued partners on our Winds of Change project — were present.
Listen to Di on The Wavemakers Podcast
In a recent Wavemakers Podcast episode by TOOL, host Birgit M. Liodden and SGS CEO Di Gilpin what it takes to innovate and evolve from tranditional mindsets in shipping. Di shared her goal of being an agent for change, emphasising that sustainable shipping is about more than technology — it’s about people, collaboration, and thinking for the long term.
| Di spoke with Joint Chief Editor Kazuhiro Tsushima at Kaiji Press about how our end-to-end wind-assist solution lowers barriers to adoption. In Maritime Bridge Japan, Hirofumi Yamamoto profiled our pioneering approach in an in-depth 3 part series. Di published an op-ed at Insider calling for policy change to unlock investment, scale proven solutions, and anchor high-value jobs, design, and IP in Scotland. In our final Winds of Change podcast episode, host Craig Eason speaks with Chief Officer (now Captain) Tom Calderbank from NTS about the crew’s experience with FastRig, and also interviews Mark Gibbons, Head of Logistics at Drax, and SGS CEO Di Gilpin. |
