As the shipping is becoming more and more interested in reducing its emissions, Chris Chatterton, COO of the Methanol Institute, discusses about the challenges arising from decarbonisation for the maritime sector. The next decade and beyond will be far more complex for the shipping industry than the previous one and the carbon challenge sits behind every analysis, Mr. Chatterton argues.
On March 25, the US Coast Guard reported that approximately five dozen ships will be in line to transit the Houston Ship Channel, as efforts to clean the waste from the International Terminals tank fire continue. TCEQ has been taking water samples from the drainage ditch, and nine chemicals in its samples exceeded health-protective concentration levels.
The Government of Hong Kong proposed to make a new regulation under the Merchant Shipping (Seafarers) Ordinance to include the latest seafarers’ training requirements as described in the International Code for Ships Operating in Polar Waters of the International Maritime Organization into local legislation. Hong Kong has also proposed to amend the Merchant Shipping (Prevention of Air Pollution) Regulation.
The Baltic Ports Organisation conducted a seminar in order for discussions to begin concerning port emissions in European ports. Approximately 80 participants gathered in Gdynia, Poland, in the early days of March to discuss the issue of air pollution in ports.
Shipowners are already ordering compliant fuels as, January 1st, 2020, the deadline for sulphur cap approaches bringing together a great need for major changes in the ways we source, handle and use energy. However, with less than a year left, industry experts and stakeholders still argue on the hard path towards decarbonization after 2020.
SEA EUROPE stated that with 90% of international trade, 80% of the EU’s external trade and 40% of the EU’s internal trade carried by water, shipping is vital for trade. In the meantime, shipping accounts for the 3.1% of CO2 emissions. Should no actions to be taken, shipping emissions could exceed the 250% by 2050.
A new report commissioned by international environmental organization Stand.earth details findings of a two-year study, exposing extremely poor air quality on four cruise ships ‘that can be worse than some of the world’s most polluted cities including Beijing, China and Santiago, Chile’.
Along with the ‘Green Paris movement’, the Seine river will be the world’s greenest river. The City of Paris aims to enhance air quality and reduce the city’s carbon footprint in conjunction with the upcoming Olympic Games in 2024. Green Paris’s goals will, in large part, be reached through transitioning to clean electric mobility.
A French study started in 2017 by the Cerema, CITEPA and INERIS, reports that air pollution from ship traffic in the Mediterranean Sea can significantly be reduced, because of the introduction of an Emission Control Area . According to the study, an ECA would lead to economic, health and environmental cost-benefits in the Mediterranean Sea.
Vancouver Fraser Port Authority has completed a shore power project to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and air pollution by enabling ships to shut down their diesel engines and connect to an electrical grid supplied by renewable energy sources. The system was successfully commissioned and connected to the first ship in October.
