
Will the maritime industry ever ditch fossil fuels? | Kofi Asante
From Design This Day by Teague
September 15, 2025 · 23 min · Episode 9
About this episode
Devin Liddell interviews Kofi Asante about electrifying the maritime industry and the challenges involved.
Devin speaks with Kofi Asante, VP of Business Development and Expansion at Arc. Before joining Arc, Kofi worked in autonomy across the trucking and aerospace sectors. Now, he and the Arc team are setting their sights on a new frontier: electrifying the maritime industry. From wake boats to cargo ships, Arc is working toward a zero-emissions future on our waterways. And it all starts with the rugged and hardworking tugboat. Devin and Kofi talk about building trust with operators, tackling infrastructure and cost hurdles, and what it will take to bring electric innovation to an industry that has remained largely unchanged for decades. 0:50 Arc's Mission to Electrify Maritime Industry 2:24 Building an Electric Tugboat Prototype 3:45 Finding an Early Adopter 5:29 Addressing Infrastructure and Cost 7:30 Why Electric? 9:22 Autonomy in Maritime and more 12:15 Charging Infrastructure Solutions 15:38 How Quiet Can a Port Be? 19:53 Lightning Round Links Devin Liddell on LinkedIn Kofi Asante on LinkedIn Teague About the Host: Futurist Devin Liddell Devin Liddell is the Principal Futurist at Teague. With over two decades of experience in innovation and design strategy, Devin has worked with…
People in this episode
Host: Devin Liddell
Guest: Kofi Asante
Topics covered
- electrification
- maritime industry
- zero-emissions
- tugboats
- infrastructure
- autonomy
Keywords
- electric tugboat
- maritime electrification
- zero-emissions future
- infrastructure hurdles
- autonomy in maritime
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: Arc, Teague, Boeing, Intel, Nike
Places: maritime industry
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