During the London International Shipping Week major stakeholders of the shipping industry such as BIMCO, ICS, and INTERTANKO, discussed about the future of shipping, focusing on the preparations of the implementation of the 2020 sulphur cap.
As IMO’s sulphur cap regulation is approaching – January 1, 2020 – the shipping industry is at a transformation stage, there is still an uncertainty about the worldwide supply of permissible fuels and concern about the safety and compatibility of fuel options.
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During the meeting, the leaders called all interested parties, including charterers, bunker suppliers and nation states to double their efforts to ensure a smooth transition and also addressed the importance of fuel standards to be put in place ahead of 1 January 2020.
The Chair of INTERCARGO, Dimitris J. Fafalios, commented during the meeting
The industry has been working hard to ensure that we are ready for 1 January 2020 but we still have major concerns over safety and availability of compliant fuels. We need all parties to fully play their part, it would not be acceptable to have even one ship drifting powerless at the mercy of the ocean.
In the meantime, the meeting also highlighted IMO’s 2050 target on reducing the GHG emissions; The leaders came to the conclusion that although there’s no one size fits all solution, solutions would to be found.
Mr Fafalios added that it is apparent that the shipping industry has made a giant leap on reducing its emissions by 10%, there’s still much to be done to achieve the 2050 goal .
During the London International Shipping Week, Inmarsat launched its report according to which startups are bringing a new era in the shipping industry boosting digitalization.
