The 1st International Conference on Decarbonising Waterborne Transportation (DeWaTra 2026) will take place on 25–26 May 2026 in Lisbon, Portugal, at the Congress Centre of Instituto Superior Técnico. The conference is organised by the University of Lisbon through the Centre for Marine Technology and Ocean Engineering (CENTEC) and is supported by the COST Action DeWaTra.
DeWaTra 2026 will bring together researchers, industry experts, policy makers and practitioners working across all aspects of reducing greenhouse gas emissions in maritime and inland waterborne transport. As the need to accelerate the decarbonisation of shipping becomes increasingly urgent, the conference will provide a dedicated forum to discuss innovative solutions, emerging technologies and practical pathways towards sustainable and environmentally responsible waterborne transportation.
The conference will address key research and industrial questions, including strategies for short- and long-term emission reductions, advances in ship design and propulsion systems, the use of alternative fuels and renewable energy sources, and the development of onboard decision-support systems for energy-efficient operations. Contributions are welcome on all relevant aspects of decarbonising waterborne transportation, with particular focus on atmospheric emissions assessment, hydrodynamic optimisation, alternative fuel operation, renewable energy integration and energy-efficient ship operation.
A special highlight of DeWaTra 2026 is the DNV Vessel Efficiency Challenge. Sponsored by DNV, this challenge will provide participants with anonymised operational, sensor, weather and routing data, inviting teams to analyse vessel performance and propose evidence-based operational improvements or retrofit solutions to reduce fuel consumption and emissions.
Authors are invited to submit abstracts of approximately two A4 pages via the conference website. Accepted abstracts will be presented at the conference, and authors will subsequently have the opportunity to submit full papers for peer review and publication in a book by CRC Taylor & Francis. Key deadlines include abstract submission by 15 February 2026, abstract acceptance by 28 February 2026, author registration by 31 March 2026 and full paper submission by 30 June 2026
Further details on the conference programme, submission process and registration are available on: http://www.centec.tecnico.ulisboa.pt/dewatra.
