In a document outlining its policy recommendations for the next five years at the European Union (EU) level, A.P. Moller – Maersk has suggested various measures to promote maritime decarbonisation. Among these is a proposal to establish a deadline for constructing new vessels that rely solely on fossil fuels.
According to Maersk, most ships calling European ports use fossil fuels. Ships have a long lifetime, with many vessels sailing the seas for 25-30 years.
Therefore, changes to the composition of the fleet serving European ports require time and investments in new green fuels and the green vessels that can use them. Currently nearly 60% of the new container ship capacity on order for delivery before 2030 is designed to use green fuels.
Over the past four years, there has been a considerable increase in the number of green vessels on order, enabling the fleet to gradually become greener. However, this also means a substantial amount of the vessels being delivered before 2030 remain fossil fuel-only vessels and will sail the seas 25-30 years from now.
While such an end-date should ideally be global in nature, Europe could introduce a regional version. This measure should target vessels built after a certain date that can only use fossil fuels and ban these from calling European ports.
…Maersk said.
This will help shipowners and energy providers make investments in new ships and fuel supply infrastructure to accelerate the energy transition.
…Maersk added.