There is still a waiting game on key IMO decarbonisation decisions, as well as question marks over any future harmonisation of IMO and EU regulations, and the availability and scalability of new marine fuels, maritime industry organisations highlighted at this morning’s session of IBIA’s Annual Convention in Athens.
Simon Bennett, Deputy Secretary General at the International Chamber of Shipping, reiterated the association’s support for a flat rate levy-based system per tonne of fuel in order to close the gap between conventional fuels and ‘very expensive’ near zero-emission fuels.
It is still unclear which market-based measure the IMO will opt for but Bennett said there was a clear groundswell of support for a levy among Member States , although what the quantum of any such levy will be remains to be seen. Suggested prices for a levy vary widely, ranging from $20 to $500 per tonne, and Bennett acknowledged that there are currently ‘big unknowns’ at the IMO in terms of key decisions.
He pointed to uncertainty over future GHG emission standards. ‘We don’t know what the numbers will be,’ he said. While the ICS is anticipating ‘relatively modest’ figures up to 2030, by the late 2030s they will have to be ‘extremely aggressive’ to meet IMO targets, he suggested.
Michael Lund, Deputy Secretary General of BIMCO, said his organisation is focusing on how shipping will go about its business across the energy transition, including addressing provisions in contracts. Improving vessel efficiency is also on the agenda, as well as work on ‘Just in Time’ port arrival solutions, although Lund said that this particular issue ‘is proving to be more complicated than we thought.’
Ports are also playing a key role in accelerating shipping’s decarbonisation and Dr Antonis Michail, Technical Director, IAPH, highlighted the impact of initiatives such as the Environmental Shipping Index, which has been joined by around 7,000 commercial vessels, as well as Clean Marine Fuel working groups, and port optimisation projects.
Costas Gknosis, Director and Secretary General at INTERCARGO, highlighted the specific challenges of decarbonisation for tramp shipping in terms of accessing the new fuels on a global basis. ‘This is why we are advocating for green energy hubs,’ he said, ‘these are more relevant to tramp shipping than [green shipping] corridors.’
Sharing the cost of new fuels among stakeholders is also important, Gknosis emphasised. Can the cost be shared with charterers, he asked. ‘How the investment and the cost is shared,’ is an issue that must be addressed.
On the issue of the current volatile geopolitical environment, the IAPH’s Michail said the shipping and port sectors must ‘anticipate the unexpected’ and meet ‘disruptors’ as they come. Ensuring the resilience of the global supply chain is imperative, he said, and industry organisations can play their part by working more closely together.
Addressing the implementation of the EU Emissions Trading System (ETS), Bennett said that the EU has stated that in any review of the ETS it will take account of what might be agreed at IMO. However, he cautioned, as the ETS gets underway, ‘and as Member States get the money, what is the possibility that they are going to be reluctant to relinquish it.’
For shipping’s energy transition to really gain momentum, ‘we need investable pathways,’ said BIMCO’s Lund.
‘We need less uncertainty before we can move forward,’ he said, but the transition will be ‘very complicated and a long journey.’
