BIMCO says
The shipping industry needs a “common, global roadmap” on environmental issues such as ship emissions to prevent imbalances in world trade, according to the president of the Baltic and International Maritime Council, Yudhishthir D Khatau, speaking at a press conference in Singapore Wednesday.
At the press conference after BIMCO’s annual general meeting, Yudhishthir said any action that was based on or led by the International Maritime Organization would be the best way to go, in terms of achieving a common single voice on any maritime issue.
With the many different emissions control areas spread out across the globe at present, the varying controls and limits imposed by individual ports, countries, or regional bodies have made it very tough for the shipping industry in terms of compliance, he said.
The supply of compliant bunker fuel and the technical challenges in switching between fuel types to ensure compliance at each port are key issues that shipowners face.
The higher cost of lower sulfur fuel over the more usual high sulfur grade is also a concern in a market that has seen a prolonged period of high fuel prices.
Bunker fuel prices in Singapore, for example, have risen steadily from around $500/mt in late 2010 and early 2011, to above $700/mt in the current market.
At present, the IMO-mandated global sulfur limit — under the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships, also known as MARPOL — is a maximum of 3.5%. This took effect from January 1 this year, before which the limit was 4%.
Current ECAs already in effect include the Baltic Sea area, North Sea, and the EU, where sulfur limits are 1.5% or below.
Upcoming regulation to take effect in new ECAs include North America in August 2012, followed by California and US Virgin Islands-Puerto Rico in January 2014.
While BIMCO welcomes the move to be more environmentally conscious, Yudhishthir said it is important that this happens in a “structured manner that sets targets that are practical and achievable in terms of cost and in a timeframe that is reasonable and efficient to adopt.”
Political pressures that vary from country to country are also a factor, with countries like India more concerned with the cost of bunker fuel, as opposed to areas like the EU and the US where quality of fuel is of higher importance.
It is therefore important to strike a balance between cost and quality, and this should ideally be led and set by the IMO, said Yudhishthir.
If there is too wide a discord between IMO mandates and specific ECA limits, there might be an imbalance in terms of trade, especially with shipping still the “most efficient way and the only way of transporting large cargoes” globally, he added.
Yudhishthir said the shipping industry is a “servant of world trade” and he expects to see a reduction in emissions over time, as the global trade industry grows.
ERADICATION OF PIRACY
Another key challenge for the shipping industry is piracy, said BIMCO secretary general and CEO Torben C Skaanild, speaking at the same conference.
This is a problem that requires all national governments to be aligned in using “all measures to eradicate piracy, and support the safety of seafarers,” he added.
Though there has been a reduction in the number of vessels hijacked in November to December 2011 and a good part of this year, there is still not enough being done if and when a ship is captured.
Though there is an increase in national naval presence in the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean, with some navies more robust than others, governments still need to work on reducing the risk reward ratio to make piracy a non-viable option.
Also, the presence of armed guards, employed privately, is largely a preventive measure, rather than a threat with consequence to pirates, Skaanild added.
Source: Platts