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Looming United Nations measures to halve carbon emissions from commercial ships have Nippon Yusen K.K., owner of the world’s second-largest fleet, designing a vessel that is propelled by sails and glides on lubricating bubbles. Other shipping lines are also aiming to cut greenhouse gases. China Cosco Holdings Co., the nation’s largest container- ship operator, may reintroduce nuclear power for moving cargo. A.P. Moeller-Maersk A/S, the biggest container-shipping company, already cut sailing speeds by half.
The shipping industry, the sixth-largest source of warming gases, also is the first target of billionaire Richard Branson’s Carbon War Room. Commercial vessels emitted 3 percent of the world’s carbon in 2007, and that may increase to 18 percent by 2050 as global trade increases and fleets expand, said the UN’s International Maritime Organization.
“The marine industry is gearing up for the biggest revolution since World War II,” said Lee Sokje, an analyst at Mirae Asset Securities Co. in Seoul. “You’re either ahead of the game or you’re out.”
Emissions targets being negotiated by the IMO and industry may be adopted in 2012 with fines for violators, prompting shipping companies to research renewable-energy technologies while also slowing vessels.
Possible Penalties
Penalties could reach $75 per ton of carbon emissions above a still-undetermined level, according to Det Norske Veritas, a Hovik, Norway-based ship assessor. The money would fund research and development of cleaner technologies.
“We’re hoping that a target will be set for the airline industry, a target will be set for the shipping industry and, if the industries don’t meet those targets, it will cost them money,” Branson said April 21. “Hopefully, that money will then go to the rain forest and will be invested in technological innovations.”...
http://www.hellenicshippingnews.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=98617&Itemid=79
1 comment:
The topic of air bubbles or lubricating bubbles is not straightforward. Few shipowners will invest in the technology until better results are available to prove their value, furthermore, not many shipyards want to alter their designs to accomodate this. Of course, the picture is changing but for the ships that are already in operation, significant savings are attainable from weather routing and hull and propeller performance monitoring.
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