Tag: reducing shipping emissions

President Obama has taken action to build the foundation for a clean energy economy, tackle the issue of climate change and protect our environment. The maritime industry understands and embraces this thinking not only because it makes sense, but also as it will be essential to future viability of marine transportation. The industry continues to take a leading role in environmental responsibility and the U.S. Maritime Administration (MARAD) is helping them chart the course. With two recently released reports examining storage and bunkering options for Liquid Natural Gas (LNG) and providing vital data on natural gas emissions, US MARAD's Office of Environment and Safety is providing information the industry needs to transition to cleaner burning fuels. And by identifying potential challenges and recommending best practices and new standards, US MARAD is working to streamline the development of a transportation network that supports the integration of natural gas as a marine fuel. Another step forward was taken with approval of a $324.6 million Title XI loan guarantee to TOTE Shipholdings, Inc., a 2014 White House Transportation Champion of Change, to finance construction of two container ships that will use LNG as propulsion fuel. The US MARAD Title XI Loan Guarantee program ...

According to the Carbon War Room, the number of ports using ship-evaluation systems to reduce carbon emissions could rise as much as 500 per cent in 2015. Up to 10 ports will cut fees for vessels designed and maintained to minimise fuel consumption next year, compared with two currently. Rotterdam, Europe's largest port, will begin looking at how it can promote more energy efficient vessels, according to a port authority statement. Branson, a Carbon War Room founder, said: "That will speed up the move from shippers to try to move towards clean ships rather than dirty ships. It's just a cog in the wheel to sorting out the much bigger problem of the environmental damage from carbon." Shipping accounted for an estimated 2.7 per cent of global carbon dioxide emissions in 2007, according to the International Maritime Organization (IMO), the United Nations' shipping agency. Rotterdam discounts port fees to vessels which emit low levels of nitrogen oxides and sulfur oxides. The port is researching how to extend the port-fee discount programme to low-carbon emitting ships, according to the statement. The ship efficiency data rankings were developed by RightShip, a marine and environmental risk management system, and the Carbon War Room. ...

The total Green House Gas emissions from global maritime transport are estimated to have been over 20% lower in 2012 than in 2007, according to the International Chamber of Shipping (ICS), the global shipping industry's trade association. The global shipping industry, which transports by sea around 90% of all world trade, is thought to have produced only about 2.2% of the world's total GHG emissions during 2012 compared to 2.8% in 2007. The estimates are contained in the latest comprehensive study of the shipping industry's Green House Gas emissions prepared by the International Maritime Organization (IMO), which will be considered by its Marine Environment Protection Committee next month.  The IMO is the shipping industry's global regulator. Speaking at the United Nations Climate Summit in New York today, convened by the UN Secretary-General, Ban Ki-Moon, to give impetus to the negotiations on a new global climate change agreement, ICS Secretary General, Peter Hinchliffe remarked: "The latest IMO study, which uses satellite tracking, suggests there's been a significant reduction in absolute CO2 emissions from ships due to the introduction of operational efficiency measures across the whole fleet.  This includes operating at slower speeds, combined with more fuel efficient designs on board the ...

Click on the image for a larger view (Image Credit: Maersk Line, Sustainability and Maersk Sustainability Report 2013)   Morten Engelstoft,  Maersk's CEO of Services and Other Shipping, says CO2 issues will be on his agenda as a newly appointed member of a UN High-level Advisory Group for Sustainable Transport. The cause to champion CO2 reduction in shipping has been given a boost from a Maersk Group perspective. Morten Engelstoft, CEO of Services and Other Shipping, has recently been appointed by United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon as a member of a High-Level Advisory Group on Sustainable Transport. The 12-member group, which is established for a period of three years, will provide recommendations at all global, national, local and sector levels, to promote sustainable transport systems, including climate action. "I am very proud to be appointed to the advisory group and look forward to contribute to advancing future sustainable transport - a subject which is highly important to the Maersk Group," says Engelstoft. Engelstoft names CO2 reduction as one of his top priorities. He says: "There is a need to push for a global level playing field with CO2 regulations for the shipping sector to be clearly defined in the IMO". He ...

My presentation on emissions regulations may be a little controversial because I'll discuss about things that more and more people start to realize but so far nobody likes to speak about. The IMO makes environmental regulations by looking at one issue at a time and that sometimes results in regulations which have conflicting effects with other environmental issues. The pressure at IMO to do something fast is high and as a result, the regulation may come before technologies are ready or without enough scientific justification for the effectiveness of the regulation, such as the example of ballast water treatment or even by over simplifying the problem, like in my opinion is the example of EEDI and EEOI. This is not a 100% IMO's fault because Member States threaten to proceed with their own regulations if IMO doesn't do it. ECAs will come down to a limit of 0.1% sulfur from next year with an intention for a global ECA for fuel to be used to contain only 0.5% of sulfur from 2020. However, science tells us that reducing SOx warms the atmosphere i.e. SOx cools the atmosphere according to an article from a scientific magazine actually written by eminent scientists, ...

Rickmers-Linie has declared its support for the introduction of stricter sulphur regulations but expects that they will inevitably lead to an increase in the cost of marine fuels. "While shipping is already the most environmentally friendly mode of transport, the new regulations help to further reduce the impact on the environment and our health," says Ulrich Ulrichs, Chief Executive Officer of Rickmers-Linie. "But low sulphur fuels are more expensive and growing demand is widely expected to further increase the costs of these fuels." The new regulations come into effect on 1 January 2015 in the Emission Control Areas (ECA) in the US and Canada as well as the North Sea, English Channel and the Baltic Sea (see map). The maximum content of sulphur allowed in marine fuels used in the ECAs will be 0.1%, compared to 1.0% today. Outside the ECAs, sulphur content in marine fuels will need to be reduced from the current 3.5% to 0.5% by the year 2020. As the result of a review by the IMO in 2018, this deadline might however still be postponed to 2025. "Rickmers-Linie fully supports the introduction of the new regulations," says Mr Ulrichs. "Using these fuels during navigation in the ...

Damen Marine Components will supply a total eight 5,050 millimetre propeller nozzles for four ultra long distance towing and anchor handling vessel newbuildings. They are the largest nozzles that DMC will have manufactured with its spinning machine technique to date. The order was granted by Caterpillar Propulsion of Gothenburg. Caterpillar is to provide the complete main propulsion units and has commissioned Damen Marine Components, a member of the Damen Shipyards Group, to design, engineer and produce the nozzle and head box sets. The four sister vessels are under construction in Japan for ALP Maritimes Services, a recently acquired Teekay Offshore Partners subsidiary. The 300+ tonne bollard pull, 24,400 BHP ocean towing and anchor handling vessels will have two propulsion units each in a CPP stern-drive and rudder configuration. "We'll manufacture the nozzles with the spinning machine in our plant in Jiang Yin, China", DMC director Steef Staal says about the novel manufacturing technique which includes one single weld only. The nozzles - of DMC's Optima design - have a 5,050 millimetre inside diameter to accommodate a 5,000 mm CP propeller. They will outsize any nozzle manufactured with DMC's first spinning machine in the plant in Gdansk, Poland. The nozzles' 0.5 ...

BSR's Clean Cargo Working Group's 2014 "Global Maritime Trade Lane Emissions Factors" report-which provides data from more than 2,900 ships, representing around 85 percent of global ocean container capacity-indicates that average carbon-dioxide emissions for global ocean container transport have declined year on year, and by nearly 8 percent between 2012 and 2013. While changes in carrier representation or global trade conditions may account for part of the emissions reductions described in the report, the continued performance improvement is also attributed to carrier fleet efficiency and year-on-year improvements in data quality. The report, which includes data from 23 of the world's leading ocean container carriers, helps global ocean transport providers and their shipping customers to measure, evaluate, and report on environmental performance data. Additionally, for the first time, the report includes aggregated average utilization factors for each trade lane. Users can include this data in carbon-footprint calculations as a more accurate approach to calculating shipment-level transport performance. The analysis of the data over the two-year period assessed show that the average utilization across all the largest trade lanes is close to 70 percent, with some variation from year to year. "By reporting using a standardized methodology, the ocean container sector is ...

A small group of EMSA staff were recently invited by Royal Caribbean Cruises and Tui to view the new Hybrid Scrubber System that has been installed on Tui Cruises new ship, the Mein Schiff 3, which had called into Lisbon during its maiden cruise to Malta. During the visit the EMSA group was given a presentation on the exhaust gas cleaning system installed on board, which is currently under trial. They also visited the engine room to see the system in situ and were briefed on how the system removes sulphur oxides from the exhaust gases. The Hybrid Scrubber System enables the ship to meet the requirements of MARPOL Annex VI and the EC Sulphur Directive (2012/33/EU), without using low sulphur fuel. Source & Image Credit : EMSAIn the beginning, I was open with you propecia before and after has changed my essence. It has become much more fun, and now I have to run. Just as it is improbable to sit.

The Danish Shipowners' Association expects the new Italian presidency to take the lead in the implementation of the EU's MRV proposals, which will restrict CO2 emissions for shipping. Italy took over the EU presidency from Greece on 1 July, and the Danish shipping industry has great expectations of both the Italians and, naturally, the new parliament, which will get started in earnest after the summer holidays. Italy's tenure marks the beginning of a new presidency trio, consisting of Italy (1 July 2014), Latvia (1 January 2015) and Luxembourg (1 July 2015) respectively. This means that the Italian presidency will set the course for the Council's programme for the next 18 months. For many, the summer has been dominated by the football World Cup. But the Italians in particular must have had plenty of opportunity to prepare themselves for taking on their new EU responsibilities because, as you know, they checked out of the World Cup early in mid-June, following the first round of matches. But there are now also even stronger professional reasons for the Danish shipping industry's great expectations. Apart from putting innovation, competitiveness and employment on the agenda, the Italian presidency also wants to focus more closely on ...