Delay until 2019
SA, CHINA, Brazil and Saudi Arabia are likely to delay until 2019 adherence to the International Maritime Organisation’s (IMO’s) newly adopted measures on reducing shipping’s greenhouse gas emissions, which come into force in 2013.
These four developing countries led the charge that secured the waiver for new ships registered in developing nations until 2019, claiming they needed more time to acquire more advanced technologies, the IMO said. This has sparked criticism that any shipbuilder could apply for the waiver if they flag a ship in a developing country.
The South African Maritime Safety Authority (Samsa) is to commission a study next month to determine the economic effect of the proposed changes and limits to emissions on shipping, the authority’s executive for operations, Sobantu Tilayi, said yesterday. SA had no ships registered under its flag but the country was heavily dependent on shipping, Mr Tilayi said.
“Anything that affects the cost of maritime transport invariably affects the economy of the whole country if you accept that 98% of all trade travels by the sea,” Mr Tilayi said. Fifty percent of SA’s gross domestic product comes from trade.
“On imports the consumer bears the cost of that, while on exports it affects the competitiveness of the product at the destination market, which has a direct effect on employment for the country,” he said.
Maersk Line sustainability head Soren Stig Nielsen said the agreement was a big step forward for the industry. ” Internationally, the focus must continue to be on a joint point of arrival – ideally with an incentive for shipping companies that design and invest in energy-efficient technology and innovation.”
Nedbank economist Dennis Dykes said while everyone had to contribute to emissions reductions, the move was a potential problem for SA in that countries that adopted the regime by the 2013 deadline could use it as an excuse to exclude imports from countries that did not.
Shipping accounts for about 3,3% of the world’s manmade carbon dioxide emissions.
An IMO study says shipping emissions could grow by 150%- 250% by 2050 if regulation is not in place.
The regulations will apply to all new ships of 400 gross tonnage and above. Those built between 2013 and 2019 will have to improve efficiency from current design by 10%. Ships built between 2020 and 2024 will have to improve efficiency by 20% and ships built after 2020, by 30%.
It does not apply to ships above 400 gross tonnage for which the building contract is placed four years after 2013.
The IMO said the regulations were expected to cut emissions by 45-million to 50-million tons by 2020, but carbon market news and intelligence agency Carbon Positive said they could only be expected to slow growth in shipping emissions over coming decades instead of inducing absolute reductions.
IMO spokeswoman Natasha Brown said it was up to flag states to impose penalties for noncompliance because the IMO, the United Nations maritime agency, was not mandated to do so. The decision is timely because the European Union had threatened to incorporate shipping into its emissions trading scheme from 2013 if the industry failed to take steps to curb its emissions.
Peter Boyd, chief operating officer of global nongovernmental organisation Carbon War Room, said the new standards, if applied to all ships instead of just newly built ones, would save the shipping industry more than 220- million tons of carbon dioxide, and $50bn a year.
Source: Business Day
