Dimitris Heliotis, Technical Director & COO Target Marine Group & Vice Chairman, MARTECMA, explains what the GREEN4SEA Excellence Award means for the Association and advises ship owners to think carefully before making their choice for compliance with latest environmental rules, especially those working mainly in ECAs.
GREEN4SEA: MARTECMA received the GREEN4SEA Excellence Award for bringing together Greek Technical Managers to share experience feedback on how industry should tackle emissions by identifying the technical requirements of the abatement technology and scrubber designs. What does this milestone mean to your organization?
Dimitris Heliotis: MARTECMA has always been following the technical and regulatory developments in our industry as is in the forefront of assessing every aspect of the implementation phases, due to the high expertise within our membership. It is therefore important that the high degree of transparency and information exchange we enjoy within our association be seen as an example for other parts of the shipping industry that are not so open to exchange such information.
G4S: What should be the key priorities for the industry in relation to tackling ship emissions? How your organization may be of assistance towards that end?
D.H.: The Shipping Industry must have a commitment to the cause of reducing emissions. Already ICS has quantified this as a percentage of a reduction towards 2050 basis the existing 2008 emission volumes. Although Shipping emits only about 2,3% of the total CO2 emissions while transporting 90% of the goods around the world, we still have to find ways of reducing our emissions. This will be mainly via improving our ship efficiency as well as exploring new technologies and methods.
G4S: What is your advice to the ship owners that have to comply with different fuel rules and those working for mainly in ECAs? What is your suggestion for compliance?
D.H.: Wait. For those mainly operating in ECA areas the Scrubber may be a viable solution however, the comparison of the pros and cons must include the possible port restrictions for effluent discharges of the scrubber water, the maintenance costs involved as well as the long term investment amortization in relation with ship age etc.
G4S: Do you have any new projects on the pipeline and/or plans that you would like to share with the rest of the industry?
D.H.: Presently our Group does not have any immediate plans for new projects.
G4S: What is your key message to the industry stakeholders with respect to green and sustainable shipping?
D.H.: In order to maintain and re-establish sustainability in our industry, the new proposals for regulations or rule making either of local or international level like IMO must first be filtered and assessed from within the industry so the end result will be the optimum and most effective for the intended purpose while still offering the sustainability criterion for the common good.
Explore more about the 2017 GREEN4SEA Awards here
The views presented hereabove are only those of the author and not necessarily those of GREEN4SEA and are for information sharing and discussion purposes only.
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Dimitris Heliotis, COO & Technical Director, Target Group & VP, MARTECMA
Dimitrios A. Heliotis, is the COO and Technical Director of Piraeus-based Target Group comprising Target Marine SA and Horizon Tankers Ltd SA, a position he has held since April 2014.
He joined Target in 1999 as fleet manager and new building project manager and between then and becoming group technical director in 2005 he was responsible for projects in South Korea’s Hyundai HI, STX, SPP, Samsung HI, Sungdong; Onomichi and Tsuneishi in Japan, as well as Sinopacific Shipbuilding in China.
On obtaining an MSc in Air Transport Engineering and Management at Cranfield Institute of Technology (UK) to go with a B.Eng. Mechanical Engineering from the University of Hull (UK), he initially worked as an independent consultant and surveyor.
In 1993 he joined Elkco Marine Consultants, before joining marine consulting firm Marinecare Ltd and, from 1996 to joining Target, he was a superintendent engineer for Navitas Co S.A a bulk carrier operator.
Memberships include: UK Engineering Council, Chartered Engineer; Royal Institute of Naval Architects; Technical Chamber of Greece; Hellenic Technical Committees of LR, ABS and NK; is the Vice President of MARTECMA, a member of Intertanko’s Safety, Technical and Environmental committee (ISTEC), and a member of the Marshal Islands Quality Council (MIQC) and the Blue Water Vessel Advisory Group (BWVAG).
