Newlight, a San Francisco Bay Area startup, has developed a hydrogen-injection retrofit system that improves the fuel efficiency of cargo ships without requiring dry-dock installation. The system compresses hydrogen and injects it into diesel engines at precisely calculated moments, allowing engines to burn less conventional fuel while maintaining performance, which could meaningfully cut shipping emissions and running costs across an industry under growing pressure to decarbonise.

The company says the retrofit can be fitted in under two weeks and typically cuts fuel use and emissions by more than 20%, saving up to $500,000 a year per vessel. It recently completed its first long-range commercial trial, an 8,500-nautical-mile voyage from Singapore to Ghana aboard a Lomar Shipping bulk carrier, which reportedly reduced fuel consumption by 24% and CO2 emissions by 28%. Co-founders Evyatar Cohen and Haran Cohen Hillel, both former Israeli Navy personnel, have raised a $9 million seed round from investors including Lomar's venture arm, BIRD Energy, Undeterred Capital, CiRi Ventures and Fusion VC, and say they have signed deals to install the system on 12 vessels, with wider fleet rollouts planned for next year.