President Emmanuel Macron chose this week’s G7 summit to reaffirm France’s commitment to slow-steaming as the best tool to tackle climate change, reports the Loadstar.
Slow Steaming Statement Startles People
Mr Macron’s statement in Biarritz seemed to catch some observers off-guard, despite the French delegation to the IMO this year calling for slow-steaming to become IMO policy.
“We will engage with shipping companies to reduce speed the speed of merchant ships,” he said at the summit’s opening.
“It is one of the most effective ways to reduce greenhouse gas emissions globally, and this measure would be a real change.”
Shipowners Association Not in Favour
However, according to Splash 24/7, secretary general of the European Community Shipowners Association Marin Dorsman has already sought to push back Mr Macron’s plans.
He said: “The shipping industry is very diversified and mandatory speed reduction might have different, and perhaps unwanted, consequences.”
UK Slams Slow Steaming
And policy director of the UK Chamber of Shipping Anna Ziou has slammed speed limits as a tool for cutting vessel emissions, claiming it would give a “false impression” of the industry acting.
“To achieve a 50% cut in emissions, the shipping industry needs continued investment in green technologies. Those that would allow ships to conduct their business through a range of low-carbon fuels, such as battery power, hydrogen fuel cells or even wind power,” said Ms Ziou.
Carriers Critical of Slow Steaming?
Carriers have been equally critical of slow-steaming, a spokesperson for Hapag-Lloyd telling The Loadstar additional speed reductions “would not be a good solution”.
Green Shipping Lobby Shows Enthusiasm
But reports suggest that Rodolphe Saade, chairman of CMA CGM, has been chosen by Mr Macron to head a new green shipping lobby group.
The carrier has shown enthusiasm for the concept of slow-steaming with the design for two new vessels it has on order pointing to a preference for slow-steaming.
American Bureau Approves
Furthermore, the American Bureau of Shipping (ABS) claims slow-steaming and speed optimisation is the best short-term tool, claiming no truly carbon neutral fuels exist.
“Even if there are regulatory complications, slow-steaming and speed optimisation should be considered as options to comply with the IMO’s CO2 reduction targets by 2030,” it said. “In the recent commercial environment, where low charter and freight rates were the norm, slow-steaming reduced the overall CO2 output from shipping.”
A disastrous rates situation in 2015, saw slow-steaming produce a 30% cut (810m tonnes) in CO2 emissions, compared with 2008.
Does It Really Matter?
As per a Business Times report, moving cargo ships into the slow lane, an idea French President Emmanuel Macron floated at the G-7 summit in Biarritz, would be one way to cut maritime transport’s giant carbon emissions footprint.
Shipping represents 2.3 per cent of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, according to French transport trade body Armateurs de France and the International Maritime Organization (IMO) – a bigger share than the 2.0 per cent generated by the aviation industry as estimated by the International Aviation Organisation (OACI).
Much of the impetus for slow steaming is the fact that the more than 90,000 large scale commercial vessels such as container ships, oil tankers and bulk freighters which ply their trade across the world’s oceans are primarily powered by heavy, high sulphur and high nitrogen-content fuel which contributes to airborne particulate matter.
The contribution of maritime transport contribution to global CO2 emissions “should hit 17 per cent by 2050 if nothing is done,” says France’s Higher Institute of Maritime Economics (ISEMAR) as maritime freight volumes are expected to quadruple by then.
Will it aid in IMO 2020?
The IMO has already decided to limit the level of sulphur compounds in marine fuels to 0.5 per cent from a current upper limit of 3.5 per cent from next year outside defined sensitive zones already subject to a 0.1 per cent cap.
In April last year the IMO adopted a strategy to reduce CO2 emissions by at least 40 per cent by 2030 from their 2008 level and 50 per cent by 2050 in a sector where experts estimate one large container ship emits as much sulphur gases as millions of cars.
But “the negotiations are foundering on the adoption of short term measures” to make the strategy a reality, the French government admitted following a May meeting with the IMO.
Environment friendly Options for Emission Reduction
In order to respect the new mandated norms from next year, shipping firms will have to switch to marine fuel with lower sulphur content.
Future compliance will also require the firms to equip their vessels with exhaust gas cleaning systems – dubbed “scrubbers” – or find alternative means of propulsion.
The liquefied natural gas (LNG) notably being adopted by the future vessels of several French shipping firms look to be the preferred solution today but will require infrastructure upgrades as well as specific on-board storage capacity plus a suitable motor.
Other solutions to explore do not on the surface appear well-suited to long-haul shipping – such as biofuels, hydrogen or electric-powered vessels or even the re-invention of sailing boats.
Slowing down – An Effective Way?
Mr Macron considers letting off less steam by slowing down to be “one of the most efficient ways of reducing emissions” and France suggested going down that route to the IMO in April.
By way of example, an oil tanker which drops its speed from 12 to 11 knots can cut its fuel consumption by 18 per cent – or by 30 per cent if speed is cut to 10 knots, according to the French ministry for ecological transition.
Trimming speed also cuts sound pollution and well as the risk of collisions with whales.
Protecting Zones
French container and shipping group CMA CGM, touting its goal to act as “a model for sustainable global prosperity,” last week committed itself not to ply the Northern Sea Route through the Arctic off the coast of northern Siberia, a route which global warming, in melting sea ice, is today rendering navigable.
Until now, expensive icebreakers have been a prerequisite to navigate the route, which can lop up to a fortnight off cargo journeys to Europe from Asia.
Given the group ranks third globally as a maritime container transport provider, it is taking a risk given the time but also the amount of fuel savings to be made from taking a shorter route than through the Suez Canal or via the Cape of Good Hope.
France is pushing for greater regulation of pollutant emissions in the Mediterranean by 2022, along the lines of existing rules for the Channel and the North Sea as well as the Baltic Sea.
Targeting Ports
Ports will also have to be targeted as ships continue to burn fuel even when they are at rest, adding to the pollution output. One potential solution is to plug them into the ports’ electric supply but that is not always logistically possible while the ships themselves have not been designed for plug in connections.
French group Stef’s La Meridionale and Corsica Lines are nonetheless experimenting with the idea in Marseille.
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Source: TheLoadStar
