A renewable power technology, an emissions performance index and a Californian port featured among the winners at the second Sustainable Shipping Awards, held in London last week.
The variety apparent in the nominations across the categories underscored the growing efforts in marine sector to improve environmental performance. The audience heard addresses from José María Figueres, former President of Costa Rica and chairman of the Carbon War Room and the chairman of the International Maritime Organizations Marine Environment Committee (MEPC), Andreas Chrysostomou.
The Environmental Technology award was of great interest but hard to pick, with nominations going to three quite different and not readily comparable technologies. SolarSailor won the category for its hybrid power systems for ships which see solar energy generated from an onboard wing of solar cells, which provide renewable power to supplement a conventional fuel-powered engine. The solar wing also acts as a sail, adding direct propulsion. The company boasts of 50 per cent fuel savings being realised from its hybrid energy ferries in use in Hong Kong. The hybrid technology is being commercialised internationally across the spectrum of ship types and size from large tankers to small yachts.
Ecospec was another nominee in the technology category for its promising three-in-one scrubbing technology for substantial reductions in carbon, sulphur and nitrogen in exhaust output. The CSNOx technology has attracted much attention for claimed reductions of up to 75 per cent of carbon emissions and will be game-changing if current sea trials bear out the high efficiencies of the system and its underlying ultra low frequency technology. The judges deliberations werent made public, but it appears they felt it too early for CSNOx and opted for the concrete results already being delivered by SolarSailor in the marketplace.
The Clean Shipping Project took out the award for best green shipping initiative for its index tool allowing Swedish exporters to compare shipping carriers on the basis of their environmental impact. A database of thousands of ships and their output of CO2, SOx, NOx and particulate matter and wastewater allows for easy online comparison. The initiative has empowered cargo owners like Volvo, ABB and Ericsson to improve the environmental footprint of their logistics chain, added transparency to shippings environmental performance and put pressure on it to improve.
A popular decision among the industry audience was the North Sea Shipping Foundations win in the Environmental Awareness category. The NGO aims to raise sustainability levels in the marine sector by bringing various stakeholders together to resolve problems and reduce barriers, and then feeding the results to the IMO and other authorities. NSFS has made strong contributions to the development of standards on ballast water, ship recycling and air emissions. Deputy director Eelco Leemans led the Friends of the Earth delegation to IMO for seven years and was a member of the IMO appointed expert group on MARPOL Annex VI.
The Ocean Environmental Protection gong went to the International Tanker Owners Pollution Federation Limited (ITOPF) for its quick-response advisory service to shipowners to prevent and contain oil spills. The service has resulted in measurable reductions in oil spill impacts from tankers.
In taking out the Clean Air Award in 2010, the Port of Long Beach in California was recognised for the second year in a row. One of the busiest and highly-regulated ports in the world, Long Beach has long has a focus on environmental performance. Singled out for recognition this year is its ports Green 40 programme, which offers discounts on port charges to ships for slowing down as they close in on the coast.
Source:shiptalk