Key US ports back Krystallon exhaust gas cleaning - Hellenicshippingnews.com

Posted - January 31, 2011 - Hellenicshippingnews.com

The ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach have selected Hamworthy Krystallon exhaust gas cleaning as the preferred technology to take forward trials aiming to cut sulphur emissions and particulate matter from ships burning heavy fuel oil in port.
The trials, which are set to begin this spring, will see the environmental solution installed on board APL England, a 5,500 TEU container vessel trading between Asia and the US. The system will allow APL to continue using low-cost residual fuels for their auxiliary engines, as per the IMO ECA rules. The technology virtually eradicates sulphur emissions, cutting them by 99.9% even when burning residual fuel oil. Additional environmental benefits accrue to the Hamworthy system, which also cuts emissions of particulate matter by up to 85% and nitrogen oxide emissions by up to 10%.
Hamworthy is working alongside US eco-bank Bluefield Holdings in the project, which will see the installation filter out solid contaminants from the exhaust of the ship’s auxiliary engines before they leave the funnel. Seawater is then treated and cleaned before being discharged from the ship.

Complete Story at:
http://www.hellenicshippingnews.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=5562:key-us-ports-back-krystallon-exhaust-gas-cleaning&catid=44:latest-news&Itemid=64

Alternative fuels to replace diesel by 2050 - GreenBusiness,com

Posted - January 26, 2011 Greenbusiness.com

Report to European Commission says biofuel, battery and hydrogen technologies can meet all future transport demands

Alternative fuels have the potential to replace traditional diesel in all forms of European transport, making the sector entirely sustainable by 2050, the European Commission was told yesterday.
A report by the European expert group on future transport fuels says that a mix of biofuels, synthetic fuels, methane and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) can enhance progress made by electric and fuel cell vehicles to meet future demand from road, rail, aviation and maritime transportation.

Complete Story at:
http://www.businessgreen.com/bg/news/1939648/alternative-fuels-replace-diesel-2050

Improved hull reduces fuel use 10% - Vietfracht

Posted - Thursday, January 13 2001 - Vietfracht

Germanischer Lloyd said it has fine-tuned the design of a series of six 9,000-TEU ships in such a way that they will be able to reduce fuel consumption by 10 percent.
The classification society said its FutureShip subsidiary, working with Chinese design firm Maric, was able to significantly improve the lines of the ship and as a result "a smaller main engine can be installed than originally anticipated." Carbon dioxide emissions are also cut by more than 90 tons per day.
Ship owners Schulte Group of Germany and Costamare Inc. of Greece had requested the design review in order to optimize the vessel's efficiency.
FutureShip's optimization procedure generated 15,000 different hull designs and evaluated them numerically. Tests performed last month at the Hamburg Ship Model Basin found the optimized model had a significantly lower total resistance than the base design.

Complete Story at:
http://vietfracht.vn/news_detail.asp?id=1535&mnKey=asdfdf

Sea change: cutting shipping’s carbon emissions - Green Wise The Bottom Line for Business

Posted - 19th January 2011 - Green Wise The Bottom Line for Business

Shipping has long be one of the world’s 'invisible industries’ – but its carbon emissions are now bringing it under the glare of critical scrutiny. Huw Spanner asks whether this vast industry can start to steam towards a cleaner future.
Close your eyes for a moment and imagine some of the green transport success stories that are around the corner. What comes to mind? A vast graceful airship? A solar-powered car? Some clever piece of videocon kit?
What you probably didn’t picture was a cargo ship the length of three football pitches, powered by liquid natural gas, currently being designed by Korean ship builder DSME as part of its Econology program. Or a huge container vessel, self-loading, smooth-sailing and powered by liquid natural gas, that’s been dreamt up by the Japanese shipping line NYK.
Carbon footprint
But these are just the kind of innovations that will be needed if shipping is to face up to its impact on the world’s climate. To be fair, ships are, relatively speaking, climate-friendly. Over the last 40 years, technological advances and economies of scale have cut fuel consumption dramatically – particularly when compared with other modes. Today’s articulated lorry pumps out about 50 grams of CO2 per kilometer for each tonne of goods carried. Airplanes account for at least 10 times as much. By comparison, a largish freighter may emit just 15 grams per tonne-kilometer (tkm); an oil tanker a mere five. Still, all those grams add up. Nearly 80 per cent of global trade by volume is transported by sea, with some 53,000 vessels clocking up over 50 trillion tkm a year. So immense is this weight of traffic that the industry’s emissions now total over a billion tonnes a year. That gives it a carbon footprint larger than Germany’s – and substantially larger than that of the aviation industry. One in every 30 tonnes of CO2 generated by human activity today comes from a ship. And the industry’s relentless growth looks set to continue as long as the global population keeps increasing and living standards around the world go on rising. By 2040, all other things being equal, the carbon footprint of shipping could easily double. Of course, all other things can’t remain equal.

Under scrutiny
One way or another, by 2040 we have to cut our emissions drastically, perhaps to below nine billion tonnes a year in total, if we are to have a chance of avoiding that critical 2°C rise in global temperature. Inevitably, shipping, for so long an 'invisible industry’ operating far beyond most people’s horizons, is now coming under intense scrutiny. Already, stringent new regulations to reduce onshore air pollution will require operators to cut their emissions of nitrogen oxides and sulphur dioxide (though, ironically, the latter has a short-term global cooling effect). It is only a matter of time before they are obliged to slash their carbon emissions as well.

Complete Story at:
http://www.greenwisebusiness.co.uk/news/sea-change-cutting-shippings-carbon-emissions-2054.aspx

Shippers Examine Advantages of Fuel Change - New York Times

Published: January 19, 2011 - I.H.T. Special Report: Business of Green - By SONIA KOLESNIKOV-JESSOP

SINGAPORE — Roughly 90 percent of international trade travels by sea, and with all that maritime traffic accounting for an estimated 3 percent to 4 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions, the shipping sector is under increasing pressure to contribute to a more sustainable future for itself and the planet.
The push for shipping companies to reduce emissions and improve the energy efficiency of their fleets is coming in part from stricter environmental regulations, at both the national and international levels.
With this in mind, some of the industry’s leading companies formed the Sustainable Shipping Initiative in September. Working with nongovernmental organizations, the Forum for the Future and the WWF, the group — whose participants include Cargill, which operates a 300-vessel charter fleet; Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering; Rio Tinto Marine, the shipping arm of the international mining giant; the marine insurer RSA; and the Greek tanker operator Tsakos Energy Navigation — says it hopes to address “what it really means for shipping to be sustainable and create a vision of industry in 2040 which is socially and environmentally responsible, resilient and profitable.”
Among the measures the group is considering, to help cut costs and reduce shipping’s environmental effects, is a shift to liquefied natural gas as the primary energy to power engines, Jaakko Eskola, a vice president of the Wartsila Group, said in an e-mail.
But such a shift is not without challenges in an industry that relies mostly on heavy fuel oil — still the least expensive and therefore most common energy source.
Lars Eikeland, executive vice president for marine business development and strategy at Rolls-Royce, who is based in Singapore, called L.N.G. “a marine fuel of the future.”
“The cost, as well as the improved efficiency it provides, makes it an attractive option for ship owners and operators, and the environmental benefits are obvious,” he said.
There are obstacles, however, to making L.N.G. a viable commercial marine fuel. One drawback is that it cannot be pumped into conventional fuel tanks, because it needs to be stored at minus 165 degrees Celsius, or minus 265 Fahrenheit, which requires tanks to be heavily insulated. L.N.G. therefore takes up much more volume than marine diesel oil or heavy fuel oil for the same amount of energy provided.

Complete story at:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/20/business/global/20iht-rbogship.html?_r=

LNG Is ‘Best Alternative’ for Paring Ship Pollution, DNV Says - Bloomberg

Posted January 17, 2011 - Bloomberg - By Kyunghee Park

Liquefied natural gas may beat out nuclear and fuel-cell technology as shipping lines look for cleaner and cheaper alternatives to traditional heavy- fuel oil, said Det Norske Veritas.
“LNG is the best alternative we have from an environmental and financial point of view,” Remi Eriksen, chief operating officer at ship inspector Det Norske Veritas, said yesterday at a conference in Singapore. Nuclear power will remain socially unacceptable, while fuel-cell technology isn’t yet advanced enough, he said.
Shipbuilders have begun developing LNG engines as the International Maritime Organization draws up regulations to lower carbon and sulfur emissions to pare pollution. The shipping industry emits about 3 percent of the world’s carbon each year, equivalent to 1 billion tons, according to Thor Jorgen Guttormsen, president of the Norwegian Shipowners’ Association.
LNG vessels would likely cost about 10 percent to 15 percent more to build than traditional ships, said Eriksen. In the long run, there would be cost-savings because LNG is cheaper than heavy fuel, he said. Heavy-fuel oil is the sludge left over after crude oil is refined into more valuable products such as gasoline and jet fuel.
There are now about 23 ferries and offshore support vessels that run on gas engines in Norway, Eriksen said.

Complete Story at:
http://www.businessweek.com/news/2011-01-17/lng-is-best-alternative-for-paring-ship-pollution-dnv-says.html

Press Release: Shipping Emissions Abatement and Trading (SEAaT) - SEAaT welcomes another associate member in International Paint

Posted - January 10, 2010 - SEAaT

SEAaT welcomes another associate member in International Paint

SEAaT, the industry-funded organisation that aims to encourage and facilitate the reduction of harmful emissions from shipping, gains a new ally
LONDON, 10 January 2011 – SEAaT (Shipping Emissions Abatement and Trading), the industry association dedicated to shipping emissions abatement and trading, announced today that International Paint Ltd. has joined them as an associate member.
International Paint is a world leader in marine coatings and has developed systems designed to reduce fuel consumption and thereby emissions from shipping. It is technologies such as these that will assist the maritime industry with reducing its environmental footprint.
SEAaT and its members are united in calling for a reduction in emissions from shipping using technological as well as operational methods, facilitated by an emissions trading scheme.
John Aitken, Secretary General, SEAaT, said: “It’s an honour for SEAaT to welcome International Paint among our associate members. So long as shipping aims to reduce its air emissions, technological innovations such as reduced friction hull coatings are bound to play a key role.”
John Willsher, Market Manager, International Paint said: “Enabling emissions reduction from shipping is a technological and regulatory challenge. The latest generation of hull coatings play a key role in meeting this challenge through proven reductions in fuel usage and carbon dioxide emissions

About SEAaT
Shipping Emissions Abatement and Trading (SEAaT) is a cross-industry, unique, proactive and self-funding group, whose mission is to encourage and faciliate efficient reduction of harmful emissions to air from shipping. SEAaT is an industry group formed in 2002 to raise awareness and acceptance of solutions for emissions reductions that are sustainable, cost effective and achievable. Its founding sponsors are the shipping and oil companies committed to exploring and implementing cost effective methods of reducing emissions. The members represent the broader shipping community, and are ship owners, operators and fuel suppliers. SEAaT’s member include: Carnival Corporation & plc, BP Shipping, P&O Ferries Limited, Shell Shipping, Stena Line, and Tsakos Energy Navigation. To participate in SEAaT or for more information, go to www.seaat.org

About International Paint
International Paint Ltd. is part of AkzoNobel. AkzoNobel is the largest global paints and coatings company and a major producer of specialty chemicals. We supply industries and consumers worldwide with innovative products and are passionate about developing sustainable answers for our customers. Our portfolio includes well known brands such as Dulux, Sikkens, International and Eka. Headquartered in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, we are a Global Fortune 500 company and are consistently ranked as one of the leaders on the Dow Jones Sustainability Indexes. With operations in more than 80 countries, our 55,000 people around the world are committed to excellence and delivering Tomorrow’s Answers Today™.www.akzonobel.com www.international-marine.com

www.seaat.org

Scenarios: Shippers weigh options to reduce sulphur emissions - Reuters

Posted - Sun Jan 16, 2011 11:24pm EST - By Francis Kan and Randy Fabi- Reuters

Global efforts to drastically reduce toxic sulphur emissions in the shipping industry will likely be delayed for years due to the reluctance of refiners to invest billions of dollars to produce cleaner burning fuel.
The United Nations shipping agency seeks to cut sulphur emissions in shipping by 80 percent in the next 10 years.
The International Maritime Organization (IMO) has passed regulations to cut sulphur in marine fuel to 0.5 percent by 2020 from the current 2.7 percent, a deadline many in the industry believes is unrealistic.
The IMO will conduct a study by 2018 to determine the availability of bunker fuel that comply with the new fuel oil standards. If the study finds that it is not possible for ships to comply, the deadline could be pushed back to 2025.
Following are the possible scenarios that would allow the shipping industry to meet IMO's anti-pollution standards:

REFINERS STEP UP TO THE PLATE

Complete story at:
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE70G0LC20110117

Chemical Free Water Treatment approved by engine manufacturer - Hellenic Shipping News

Posted - January 18, 2011 - Hellenic Shipping News

The chemical free EnwaMatic® Maritime technology by ENWA Water Treatment has obtained approval from engine manufacturer Wärtsilä. One of the most critical parameters for maritime engine efficiency and life time is internal corrosion.
This is why engine manufacturers provide very clear specifications on the water to be used for cooling.
The instant water enters the cooling system, it causes corrosion, scaling, bacterial contamination and fouling. This has a significant impact on energy consumption, motor components and overall Life Cycle Cost (LCC). No more than 2 mm of rust can reduce heat transfer by 5% across component surfaces. Scale has an even more significant effect on the transfer efficiency with a small 0.5 mm layer generating as much as 4% loss.
When specifying a water treatment regime consideration must be given to its efficacy, its whole life cycle cost, how easily it can be implemented and managed, and what potential risk it presents to personnel and the environment. A major worry for ship owners has been the fact that whenever an engine cooling system or an HVAC system is drained, the water has to be treated as special waste since chemicals are being used to avoid corrosion, scaling and bacteria.
Traditionally, water treatment for engine water is done by adding different types of chemicals to balance the water quality and in order to avoid corrosion damages inside the engine. Doing so, however, can cause localized pitting and accelerate corrosion. Contrary to this, the EnwaMatic technology is based on filtering and treating the water with minerals balancing, removing oxygen and neutralizing the water. The unit is fully automatic while it protects the engine or the HVAC system internals.

Complete Story at:
http://www.hellenicshippingnews.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=3487:chemical-free-water-treatment-approved-by-engine-manufacturer&catid=44:latest-news&Itemid=64

North P&I Club warns of stability risk when complying with ballast water rules - Hellenic Shipping News

Posted - January 18, 2011 - Hellenic Shipping News

The ‘A’ rated 125 million GT North P&I club has warned shipowners to take great care when attempting to comply with ballast-water rules by exchanging ballast water at sea. The club says in the latest issue of its loss-prevention newsletter,
‘Signals’ that without a meticulously prepared and implemented procedure for ballast water exchange, ships face a serious risk of a loss of stability.
According to risk management executive, Simon MacLeod, ‘The 2004 International Convention for the Control and Management of Ships’ Ballast Water and Sediments (BMW Convention) needs to be ratified by just three more states with 10% of world tonnage, but many countries have already introduced their own regional mandatory ballast-water requirements - many of which are based on IMO guidelines.’
The new regulations are designed to prevent the introduction and spread of harmful marine organisms by shipping, and one of the most common ways of complying is to exchange ballast water on passage. ‘However, this can pose significant stability risks if a proper plan is not developed and rigorously followed on board,’ says MacLeod.
North reminds shipowners that emptying and refilling ballast tanks can significantly reduce a vessel’s stability, both by reducing ballast weight but also by introducing free-surface effects. In dynamic deep-sea conditions, this can potentially lead to an angle of loll and ultimately capsize.
‘An angle of loll is very dangerous situation and should be corrected as soon as possible,’ says Macleod. ‘However, the effects of corrective actions should be carefully calculated to ensure matters are not made worse.

Complete Story at:
http://www.hellenicshippingnews.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=3497:north-pai-club-warns-of-stability-risk-when-complying-with-ballast-water-rules&catid=46:top-story-b&Itemid=151

Analysis: Refiners threaten anti-pollution efforts in shipping - Reuters

Posted - January 17, 2010 - Reuters.com (US)By Francis Kan and Randy Fabi

Global efforts to drastically reduce toxic sulfur emissions in the shipping industry will likely be delayed for years due to the reluctance of refiners to invest billions of dollars to produce cleaner burning fuel.
The U.N. shipping agency, International Maritime Organization (IMO), has set a 2020 deadline for the maritime community to slash the amount of sulfur burned by the global fleet, blamed for thousands of deaths every year.
The IMO estimates the industry needs to invest nearly $150 billion in secondary refining capacity to ensure enough supplies are available.
IMO's cap can only be realistically met through the use of cleaner burning fuels, known as middle distillates, already in short supply due to high demand from automobiles, airplanes and power stations. As a result of the changes, demand for such fuels could rise by up to 50 percent, or an additional 600 million tones, from current levels by 2030, according to estimates by oil major ExxonMobil.
"This represents a major increase in distillate demand, a product that has experienced high growth even without the marine fuel growth," said Vincent Chong, global head of ExxonMobil's marine fuel division.
Gas oil, a key middle distillate product, accounted for 42 per cent of global oil products growth in the third quarter of 2010, expanding twice as quickly as the same period in 2009, according to the International Energy Agency's December oil market report.
Cheaper high-sulfur residual fuel oil (HSFO) -- the sludgy, bottom of the barrel residue left behind from refining more profitable fuels -- is most commonly used by ships now.
If the cap is imposed, refiners will have to scramble for waytonessing up millions of tones of the fuel. Global residual fuel production in 2010 is estimated at around 570 million tones with residual bunker consumption at around 190-200 million tones, according to a study by energy consultants Poten & Partners.
The shipping industry, which transports about 90 percent of the world's traded goods by volume, does not believe enough low sulfur marine fuel will be produced in time for its more than 50,000 merchant vessels.
"We will monitor the 2020 deadline very carefully because we believe the bunker fuel supplies to meet the limits may not be available," said Torben Skaanild, chief executive of BIMCO, the world's largest ship owners' association.

Complete Story at:
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE70G0L220110117

JRC Reference Reports - Bnaidu

Posted - January 15, 2011 JRC Reference Reports - Apollonia Miola, Biagio Ciuffo, Emiliano Givine, Marleen Marra

Regulating Air Emission from Ships - The State if the Art on Methodologies, Technologies and Policy Options

Complete Information available for download at:
http://wenku.baidu.com/view/6c911ba30029bd64783e2c41.html

A Balanced Perspective from Malaysia - SYS-CON Media

Posted - Jan. 13, 2011 04:00 PM - By: John Miele

Commonly regarded as a developing nation, Malaysia’s shipbuilding and shipping industry continues to grow and prosper, the nation becoming a major industry player in Southeast Asia. Situated along the Straits of Malacca, Malaysian involvement in emissions control is vital to environmental interests, should regulations ever have a chance of succeeding. The article below quotes Nazery Khalid of the Maritime Institute of Malaysia:

From The Star:

“Concerns over carbon emissions have emerged as a key driver which is reshaping the way industry players think, plan, invest and operate.
“There is growing pressure for the sector to clean up its act amid growing demand for maritime-related services such as shipping, port operations, shipbuilding, ship repairing and a host of other ancillary services.
“Players in the maritime sector simply cannot maintain the status quo and hope for the problem of global warming to go away.
“As demand for services in the maritime sector grows in line with growing global seaborne trade, offshore oil and gas activities and other economic activities that require ships, ports and other maritime components, emissions from the sector is expected to rise,”
“It is also projected that carbon emissions from shipping will grow by a factor of two to three by 2050 from the 2007 levels if no regulatory measures are put in place to lower the emissions.
“The levels of sulphur oxide emanated by merchant vessels that use normal high sulphur fuel are significant and urgent actions are required to reduce them,” he said.
Given the importance of ports and the shipping sector as key facilitators of trade, Nazery said there was a need for stakeholders involved in these sectors to play an active role in protecting the environment.

Complete story and link at:
http://www.sys-con.com/node/1677099

Could seawater clean up shipping emissions? - BusinessGreen Sustainable thinking

Posted January 10, 2011 - Business Green Sustainable thinking - By BusinessGreen staff

California ports test seawater scrubber that aims to slash sulphur oxide and diesel soot emissions

New technology that uses seawater to "scrub" particulate matter and sulphur oxide emissions from ships' exhausts will be trialled by two Californian ports this spring.
The $3.4m (£2.2m) project, sponsored by the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, will see the so-called "seawater scrubber" filtering technology fitted on a container vessel for three years, in a move that researchers predict will almost eliminate the ship's emissions.
Jointly produced by UK company Hamworthy Krystallon and US eco-bank Bluefield Holdings, the scrubber filters out solid contaminants from a ship's auxiliary engines and boiler before they leave as exhaust. The seawater is then treated and cleaned before being discharged, while the contaminants are collected for disposal.
The trial is expected to reduce emissions of diesel particulate matter, classified as a toxic air contaminant in California, by 80 to 85 per cent, sulphur oxide by 99.9 per cent and volatile organic compounds by 90 per cent. Smog-producing emissions of nitrogen oxide should also fall by 10 per cent.
The shipping industry is under growing pressure to tackle air pollution and address rising greenhouse gas emissions that are thought to account for about three per cent of the global total.
The International Maritime Organization has been working towards a global deal to limit greenhouse gas emissions, but its slow progress prompted the EU to signal its intent to incorporate shipping into its Emissions Trading Scheme (EU ETS) if no agreement is forthcoming by the end of 2011.

Complete Story at:
http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=7048304257613697692

CARBON EMISSION: SHIPPING SECTOR UNDER PRESSURE TO CLEAN UP ACT - General NBF Topics

Posted - January 7th 2011 - General NBF Topics

Although the commercial shipping sector accounts for only 3.3 per cent of global carbon emissions from the industrial sector, the industry should not be complacent in its effort to be ”greener,” according to a senior fellow at the Maritime Institute of Malaysia, Nazery Khalid, The Star Online reported on Monday.
He said, ”Concerns over carbon emissions have emerged as a key drive,r which is reshaping the way industry players think, plan, invest and operate.
”There is growing pressure for the sector to clean up its act amid growing demand for maritime-related services such as shipping, port operations, shipbuilding, ship repairing and a host of other ancillary services.
Khalid told StarBiz, ”Players in the maritime sector simply cannot maintain the status quo and hope for the problem of global warming to go away.Players in the maritime sector simply cannot maintain the status quo and hope for the problem of global warming to go away.
”As demand for services in the maritime sector grows in line with growing global seaborne trade, offshore oil and gas activities and other economic activities that require ships, ports and other maritime components, emissions from the sector is expected to rise.”

Complete Story at:
http://www.nigerianbestforum.com/generaltopics/?p=87997

Pressure on shipping sector to clean up act Concerns over emissions reshaping the way players think, invest and operate - The Star Online

Posted - Monday January 3, 2011 - The Star Online - By SHARIDAN M. ALI
sharidan@thestar.com.my

PETALING JAYA: Although the commercial shipping sector accounts for only 3.3% of global carbon emissions from the industrial sector, the industry should not complacent in its effort to be “greener”, said Maritime Institute of Malaysia senior fellow Nazery Khalid.
“Concerns over carbon emissions have emerged as a key driver which is reshaping the way industry players think, plan, invest and operate.
“There is growing pressure for the sector to clean up its act amid growing demand for maritime-related services such as shipping, port operations, shipbuilding, ship repairing and a host of other ancillary services.
“Players in the maritime sector simply cannot maintain the status quo and hope for the problem of global warming to go away.
“As demand for services in the maritime sector grows in line with growing global seaborne trade, offshore oil and gas activities and other economic activities that require ships, ports and other maritime components, emissions from the sector is expected to rise,” he told StarBiz.
The shipping industry, which transports about 90% of the world’s cargo, is now developing green technologies that support the long-term sustainability of the sector.
The effort to create a more environment-friendly industry is spearheaded by a Danish organization, Green Ship of the Future.

Complete story at:

http://biz.thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2011/1/3/business/7714923&sec=business

If the ES capsized shipping emissions suggestions? - Maritime News

Posted - December 30, 2010 - Maritime News

Any attempt to bring shipping into the EU’s Emissions Trading Scheme (EU ETS) may be open to legal challenges, according to new research by the European Commission.
Maritime transport produces about four per cent of global man-made CO2 emissions, but there are currently no regulations in place to curb the sector’s growing carbon footprint.
Sluggish progress towards an international agreement, which the maritime sector insists is the best way to curb emissions, prompted the EU to declare it would include the sector’s emissions in the EU ETS from 2013 if an international deal is not agreed by the end of next year.
But a report published this week by the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre (JRC) appeared to torpedo the EU’s plans, warning that EU countries would be unable to enforce restrictions on ships flying flags of convenience from outside the bloc.
Moreover, international shipping law affirms that “states shall not discriminate in form or in fact against vessels of any other state”, which means nations attempting to prevent non-compliant ships from docking or passing through territorial waters could face legal action.
“There is currently no strong legal basis for the EU to exercise extra-territorial jurisdiction, and this is likely to give non-EU states and industry bodies grounds for challenging carbon emissions reduction measures adopted by the EU for maritime transport,” the report concludes.
It goes on to analyze the best methods of estimating emissions from shipping and sets out a range of alternative policy options for reducing the level of emissions from the sector.
Shipping has the lowest ratio of CO2 emissions per ton of any transport option, but its total greenhouse gas (GHG) output is expected to shoot up by an estimated 150 to 200 per cent over the next four decades as global trade increases. The industry’s sulphur dioxide emissions are also forecast to rise 10-20 per cent over the next two years alone.
The report says that the voluntary technical measures so far agreed by international maritime bodies to improve fuel efficiency and ship design are not enough to reduce emissions and must be supplemented with market-based mechanisms.
While it notes that the EU ETS provides a “definite window of opportunity, without placing an unnecessarily heavy burden on the sector”, a lack of agreement over allowance allocation and the mobile nature and diversity of craft in the sector makes inclusion in the scheme very difficult, regardless of the legal implications.
Research, Innovation and Science commissioner Máire Geoghegan-Quinn said: “This JRC report underlines why pollution from shipping, like that from many other sources, needs to be reduced both to help tackle climate change and to prevent severe damage to human health.”
However, the report could also provide a boost to a group of US airlines that are currently pursuing legal action against the EU over its decision to include flights to and from the bloc in the ETS.

http://bestshippingnews.com/shipping-news/if-the-es-capsized-shipping-emissions-suggestions/