During 2018, the signatories to the Paris Agreement on Climate Change adopted the guidelines for its implementation. International shipping can can contribute greatly in the transition towards a more sustainable economy. This can be done by developing new vessel types and by improving the current fleet. Digitalization will play a key role in these programmes, Port of Rotterdam believes.
Currently, the Port of Rotterdam is trying to realise a carbon-neutral landscape. The Wuppertal Institute for Climate, Environment and Energy contributed to the transition plan ‘Towards a sustainable industrial cluster in Rotterdam-Moerdijk in three steps’. Commenting on this, Alan Dirks, head of Environmental Management (Port Authority), said:
In the case of the industrial sector, we have adopted a number of routes, including biomass, wind power and storing CO2 in the sea bed. We can cut our carbon emissions relatively quickly through these approaches
[smlsubform prepend=”GET THE SAFETY4SEA IN YOUR INBOX!” showname=false emailtxt=”” emailholder=”Enter your email address” showsubmit=true submittxt=”Submit” jsthanks=false thankyou=”Thank you for subscribing to our mailing list”]
However, the emissions must be measured. Policy Officer Rinske van der Meer is responsible for coordinating the development of models for this calculation, with several of these models being linked to the Port Authority’s Pronto software application. Pronto focuses on reducing waiting times for ships calling on the port and provides real-time insight into the available berths and handling capacity. For example, if an incoming ship has to wait until a berth becomes available, it can reduce its navigation speed. This limits the volume of emissions generated during the voyage and at the berth, and saves fuel.
What is more, IT developer Pim Verkerk, noted that Pronto’s CO2 module can calculate a vessel’s CO2 emissions based on its route, itinerary, the current terminal planning and its navigation speed. It then compares this to the vessel’s optimal speed under the existing conditions. This can be used to determine potential savings per port call. Currently, the Port can calculate a ship’s emissions based on the collected data, report them and indicate where there’s scope for further savings. In future, there are plans to for a more predictive information and possibly visualisation of savings in real time.
Nevertheless, in some cases, a vessel actually does not want to slow down to reach the port just in time. This could be because it is contractually obliged to travel from one port to the next as quickly as possible. That is why the Port Authority consultants and IMO staff also take contractual aspects into account.
Finally, Pronto shows the nitrogen load generated by sea-going vessels. According to Mr. Van der Meer:
This has a major impact – particularly along the coast. When ships are forced to stay at anchorage for too long, this directly affects the local ecology here in Rotterdam
However, he added that now it is not certain that everyone will share their data. For this reason, the Port Authority hopes that Pronto’s environmental tools will increase sector parties’ willingness to actively share information. Nonetheless, by offering insight into fuel consumption and emissions could lower the threshold, as parties in the sector know that this insight is important and will only become more important in the years ahead.
