The ambitious CO2 reduction targets set by the UN International Maritime Organization (IMO) for the year 2050 can only be delivered with the global rollout of zero CO2 fuels and propulsion systems, says the International Chamber of Shipping (ICS).
The IMO has set goals for shipping for 2050: a 70% efficiency improvement as an average across the fleet, and a total CO2 cut by the sector of at least 50% by 2050 (regardless of expected growth in maritime trade).
Radical and Unproven Technologies
Speaking at the annual Summit of Transport Ministers hosted by the OECD International Transport Forum in Leipzig, ICS Deputy Secretary General, Simon Bennett said:
'To be clear, zero CO2 fuels means radical and as yet unproven technologies such as hydrogen fuel cells using ammonia or methanol, or batteries powered using renewable energy. While LNG or biofuels will play an important part in the transition, we only really see these as interim solutions that will not deliver the ambitious targets that IMO has now set for 2050.'
'While we are confident new zero CO2 technologies will eventually deliver, they are not yet fully ready for maritime application, and certainly not yet for deep sea trades.'
Governments and UN IMO Need to Facilitate Research
Mr Bennett added: 'The development of these new technologies will require co-operation between all relevant stakeholders particularly shipbuilders, engine manufacturers and classification societies, which are the repositories of the industry’s technical knowledge. But when it comes to pure research into new propulsion systems, this has to be facilitated by governments within a framework that needs to be developed by the UN IMO.'
Compromise to Kick Start New Technologies
He added: 'To kick start new technologies we also may need to make some compromises. For example, in order to develop hydrogen propulsion systems, and gain experience of the serious technical challenges, we may need to initially permit use of hydrogen that is still derived from fossil feedstock rather than renewables, a technology which is not quite there yet, though probably not insurmountable in the longer term.'
Political Need for New Short Term IMO Regulations
With regard to short term measures, Mr Bennett says the industry recognises that there is a political need among many governments for new IMO regulations that will start achieving further CO2 reductions from the sector before 2023, so that the industry stays on track to improve efficiency, as an average across the sector, by at least 40% by 2030, as also agreed by IMO.
The next round of IMO discussions will take place in October 2018 in order to consider a list of possible candidate measures for CO2 reduction, and the industry is planning to make some detailed submissions to that meeting.
EEDI and SEEMP
ICS is considering further improvements to the Energy Efficiency Design Index (EEDI) for new ships and how ship owners can best optimise speed management and use efficiency indicators to improve ship performance, possibly through strengthening the existing mandatory requirement for ships to use a Ship Efficiency Management Plan (SEEMP).
Technical Measures Alone
Mr Bennett added, 'At the moment we believe the IMO strategy can best be delivered with technical measures alone. We don’t think we need the smoke and mirrors of market based measures or the purchase of carbon offsets to compensate for emissions which the sector is quite capable of reducing itself in line with the targets now agreed by IMO.'
Picture by Dom0803.
