Global News

A lack of scrubber investment coupled with increasing uncertainty surrounding the availability of low-sulphur bunker fuel could have significant implications for the shipping industry, says Neil Atkinson, head of the International Energy Agency’s (IEA) oil industry and market division.

The technology group and Finnish ferry company have signed an Optimised Maintenance agreement for the Wärtsilä LNGPac system onboard the LNG-fuelled passenger ferry.

‘Although impacts are difficult with imperfect information, it is fairly safe to say that the effectiveness of [current] port-based incentives to reduce maritime Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions remains pretty marginal,’ the International Transport Forum (ITF) says.

In the short term, the study suggests that the ‘vast majority’ of conventionally fuelled vessels already in service will either switch to low sulphur conventional fuels to comply with the 2020 global sulphur cap or implement a scrubber system while continuing to use HFO.

A total switch by the global fleet from fuel oil and gasoil to LNG would still leave shipping falling short of its CO2 target by some 350 million tons, says energy research specialist.

A new report by the Shanghai International Shipping Institute says that the cargo throughput of major global ports grew by over 5% in 2017.

Company MD says the IMO MEPC 72’s decision to ban the carriage of non-compliant fuel oil will have a material and technical impact on commercial ship operations.

The shipping line, which claims to have improved its carbon efficiency by 50% between 2005 and 2015, has set itself a new goal of improving its carbon efficiency by 30% between 2015 and 2025.

A keel-laying ceremony for the Color Hybrid was held on 16 April at Crist in Gdynia, Poland.