Maersk, Lloyd’s Register, Core Power and the Port of Rotterdam have jointly published a report outlining the steps required to bring nuclear-powered commercial vessels into a major European port. The document, titled Enabling Nuclear-Powered Feeder Ships: A Joint Development Project on Port Call Feasibility and Regulatory Pathways, is the outcome of a development project that uses Rotterdam as a case study to examine how nuclear propulsion technologies could interact with existing safety systems and regulatory processes at port level.
The report’s central finding is clear-cut: the main obstacles are not technical. According to the document, the real barriers concern regulatory alignment between local and international authorities, shared governance frameworks, and public acceptance. Port safety frameworks already in place at major European hubs could serve as a credible starting point — provided that coordinated work begins among regulators, shipowners and technology developers. This is a concrete foundation, not an abstract vision.
The project has clear precedents. Lloyd’s Register and Core Power had already launched a regulatory assessment in 2024, before Maersk joined a second initiative focused specifically on safety requirements and operational standards for nuclear-powered container ships. Core Power has since signed an agreement with the Maritime Administration of the U.S. Department of Transportation — known as MARAD — to study the feasibility of building commercial nuclear-powered vessels by 2028. The timeline is becoming increasingly defined.
The broader backdrop is a strategic agreement between the United States and the United Kingdom. The project falls under the Technology Prosperity Deal between the two countries, which includes among its goals the exploration of nuclear propulsion in commercial shipping and the establishment of a transatlantic corridor for nuclear-powered vessels. Nick Gross, Lloyd’s Register’s container segment director, described the work as “a practical and collaborative approach” bringing together port operators, shipowners and classification societies. The involvement of Maersk — the world’s second-largest shipping company — lends the initiative a level of industrial credibility that is hard to overlook.
Ole Graa Jakobsen, Maersk’s head of fleet technology, framed the issue plainly: fourth-generation reactors could make nuclear power a viable pathway to decarbonising the logistics sector within the next ten to fifteen years. Maersk’s net-zero target of 2040 — brought forward from the original 2050 deadline — demands solutions that go beyond methanol and biofuels. Maritime nuclear propulsion, until recently regarded as a niche technology or a historical curiosity, is becoming part of the operational debate.
The Port of Rotterdam as a living laboratory, Core Power as the technological driver, Lloyd’s Register as the classification authority, and Maersk as the heavyweight industrial partner. If the regulatory work of the coming years yields shared frameworks between the IMO, national authorities and port operators, the transatlantic nuclear corridor could move from hypothesis to a project with an actual delivery date.
