IMO to discuss new carbon-cutting regulations
By Anastassios Adamoupolos
A WORKING group on greenhouse gasses will reconvene next week to discuss proposals to target the immediate reduction of greenhouse gasses from ships The International Maritime Organization meeting in London will consider new carbon-cutting measures for the industry, which have so far proven challenging. The proposals, seen by Lloydâs List, are for the most part augmentations or alterations of those suggested to the Marine Environment Protection Committee and rely heavily on two familiar regulatory concepts
The first is the Energy Efficiency Design Index, the IMOâs staple decarbonisation measure that imposes design-based efficiency requirements to newbuild vessels.Japan and Norway, two shipping heavyweights, have combined forces to push for the imposition of energy efficiency targets on existing ships based on ship type and size. Both nations suggest basing these efficiency targets, which they label as EEXI, primarily on the EEDI benchmarks that have already been set for each relevant ship type in 2022. âFurthermore, by equalising the required EEXI on existing ships with the required EEDI on new ships, EEXI can stimulate fleet replacement with new innovative ships, which is essential to achieve mid- and long-term GHG emissions reduction targets,â the proposal said.
The second is the Ship Energy Efficiency Management Plan, another IMO regulation that forces shipowners to develop strategies to make their vessels more efficient. Denmark, Germany and Spain are pushing for the imposition of a mandatory carbon intensity targets for each individual vessel to match the IMO GHG strategyâs goal of reducing carbon intensity by 40% by 2030. The trio want individual ships to meet the minimum 40% target, by incorporating it in their SEEMP and implementing it. Vessels would essentially have to showcase how they plan to meet that reduction target and prove that they are indeed meeting mandated annual carbon intensity cuts.
There is a discernible difference between these two proposals. But the philosophy is the same; set a target and allow flexibility in how companies and ships meet that target. The proposals highlight this as a benefit that allows the shipping industry to remain agile, respecting the fact each ship and each sector have different demands and operate under different conditions.
France openly supports the call for a goal-based measure on emissions targets and has its own proposal with Monaco advocating again for the use of SEEMP to get there. It is also proposing speed limits from the beginning of 2023 to the end of 2025 for bulkers, oil and chemical tankers specifically. Under the proposal, bulkers would sail at a maximum of 10.5 knots per hour while tankers would sail at 11 knots per hour.
President Emmanuel Macron has thrown his weight behind speed limits and the proposal will find strong support from firms in tramp sector. Earlier this year 120 shipping companies openly supported mandatory speed limits. The suggestion, however, will likely be opposed by a countries dependent on trade, particularly Latin American nations that have been openly and staunchly opposed to any speed limits due to the anticipated impact on transport costs.
France claimed that the costs for shippers would be low. It also refuted the widely-levelled criticism that lower speeds ships will mean demand for more vessels to fill the gap of lost time. âIn the specific case of bulkers and oil or chemical tankers, it is very unlikely that additional ships will be needed, since those both segments have been experiencing chronic overcapacity since 2010,â it claimed.
A number of these speed limit proponents are Greek firms, the bulk of which operate in the tramp sectors and work closely with charterers. Greece, through a separate proposal to the intersessional group, also wants to strengthen and change the particulars of SEEMP. Rather than asking for a speed limit, however, Greece wants vessels to reduce their maximum main engine power, with the requirements for difference vessels sectors rather than individual ships. âThe underlying idea is to maintain, in the short term, the fuel consumption required for the propulsion of the existing global fleet at the level of a historical low slow steaming while further improving SEEMPâs speed optimisation,â Greece said.
Greeceâs insistence on a perspective measure is based on the fact that charterers the operation of the vessels is in the control of charterers, and not shipowners, have to adhere to a specific regulation âGreece firmly believes that the prescription of one uniform power reduction factor across a shipping sector (prescriptive approach by sector) is more appropriate for existing ships of the bulk/ tramp shipping sector compared to the establishment of mandatory goals, the accomplishment of which is out of the control of the shipowner of this sector,â the country said.
In a similar nod to prescriptive measures, BIMCO has also proposed limiting engine power to help curb emissions. The result of this meeting may be support for specific points of different proposals that put the industry closer to a newer measure. But fundamentally negotiators have to decide whether both schools of thought can play some role concurrently or if perspective and goal-based measures cannot coexist.
Source : Lloydslist