Aerial view of Male harbor in the Maldives. The Maldives is testing an electric hydrofoil network that could reshape maritime transportation for island nations and coastal cities. (ShutterstockIgor Link)

The Future of Maritime Transport Is Being Tested in the Maldives

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The Maldives is testing an electric hydrofoil network that could reshape maritime transportation for island nations and coastal cities.

The Strait of Hormuz may soon reopen, but maritime transport as we know it is about to change.

As the world waits with bated breath to see whether the current peace in the Middle East holds, the recent Iran war was above all a reminder of the outsized role that fossil fuels play in the global energy supply chain. At a time when talk of renewables and net zero is increasingly unfashionable, the hijacking of Hormuz should give us pause for thought.

The Maldives Is Becoming a Laboratory for Sustainable Maritime Transport

One country for whom net zero still matters plenty is the Maldives. This remote tourism hotspot in South Asia is made up of more than 1,192 coral islands. Roughly 200 of these islands are inhabited and another 140 or so are resorts. The country has the lowest average elevation of any country in the world.  In other words, Maldivians have reason to be more worried about rising sea levels than most. As a result, the archipelagic nation has become a world leader in innovative solutions to climate change problems, from land reclamation to coastal protection. 

The latest innovation, announced two weeks ago, is being billed as the first standardized inter-island transportation network of its kind in the world. The so-called Navier Network will be a software-driven sustainable maritime........

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