Zero44 founder Friederike Hesse joins Undocked to unpack the operational reality of maritime decarbonisation compliance. From FuelEU pooling and EU ETS accounting to the unintended consequences of CII, the discussion explores how regulation is reshaping commercial shipping — and why software is rapidly becoming essential infrastructure for managing complexity.

• 00:38 Introducing Friederike Hesse and Zero44
• 02:15 From startups and consulting into maritime
• 04:34 Lessons from scaling Homeday
• 07:36 Why maritime decarbonisation became a software problem
• 11:25 Breaking down EU ETS and FuelEU
• 15:06 FuelEU pooling and compliance markets
• 19:06 Early operational impacts of regulation
• 21:09 Why spreadsheets are no longer enough
• 24:34 Building Zero44 product-by-product around regulation
• 31:17 Paying penalties versus optimising compliance
• 35:32 Regulatory uncertainty and the IMO net zero framework
• 40:43 Fragmented global regulation and UK ETS
• 43:06 Women, networks, and inclusion in maritime
• 47:56 Building a mixed maritime-tech startup team
• 50:11 What comes next for Zero44

This week on Undocked, Nick and Raal are joined by Friederike Hesse, founder and CEO of Zero44, to discuss the rapidly growing complexity of maritime decarbonisation compliance — and why software is becoming central to how shipping companies operate.

The conversation begins with Friederike’s route into shipping from economics, consulting and Berlin’s startup ecosystem, before unpacking how Zero44 emerged from the wave of regulation arriving in European shipping from 2023 onwards. What started as a tool for monitoring CII risk has evolved into a broader platform for managing EU ETS, FuelEU Maritime and increasingly complex commercial carbon strategies.

The discussion explores the mechanics behind FuelEU pooling, the emergence of private carbon marketplaces, and why compliance is becoming a commercial optimisation exercise rather than a simple reporting obligation. Friederike explains how operators are balancing fuel costs, penalties, charterparty agreements and voluntary carbon markets — often simultaneously — and why spreadsheets are no longer sufficient to manage the interdependencies involved.

Nick and Raal also examine some of the unintended consequences of regulation, including distorted operational behaviour under CII, while discussing the industry’s growing adoption of biofuels and the increasing fragmentation of regional carbon regimes, including UK ETS and potential future national systems.

The episode closes with a broader conversation about building technology companies in maritime, the challenge of regulatory uncertainty, and the social dynamics of an industry still heavily shaped by traditional networks and relationship-building.

This episode is brought to you by Lloyd’s Maritime Academy.

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