PROPULSION REVOLUTION
Ships Monthly|January 2020
Jim Shaw summarises the efforts being made by the world’s shipping industry to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from ships, and how these efforts are reshaping marine propulsion and vessel design in light of new IMO 2020 regulations.
Jim Shaw
PROPULSION REVOLUTION

The International Maritime Organization (IMO) regulations limiting the sulphur content of bunker fuel to 0.5 per cent, a reduction of over 80 per cent from previous levels, takes effect on 1 January 2020. The new regulation is part of the organisation’s commitment to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, particularly CO2, from the world’s merchant fleet by at least 50 per cent over the next three decades. This will require tremendous changes within the maritime sector, with the development of a commercially viable net zero CO2 emission paths to comply with the new IMO mandate: switching to low-sulphur fuel but at a higher cost; continuing to use high-sulphur fuel but installing ‘scrubbers’ to clean the exhaust; or using a cleaner alternative fuel, such as liquefied natural gas (LNG), which requires engine modifications and the installation of large cryogenic fuel tanks.

In addition, a number of auxiliary propulsion and fuelsaving devices, such as Flettner rotors, fuel cells, solar cells, batteries, kites and sails, are being experimented with to improve vessel efficiency and reduce pollution. Some are limited to wind-prevalent routes vessel needed by 2030 to cut average carbon intensity, or CO2 per tonne-mile, by at least 40 per cent.

At a recent forum on shipping held in Greece an executive with a major banking group cautioned shipping companies: ‘This is the end of the shipping industry as you know it’; 11 banks with over $100 billion in shipping loans have now agreed on an emission baseline to assess climate risk and shipping companies’ ability to meet international reduction targets if their businesses are to continue to receive financing.

This story is from the January 2020 edition of Ships Monthly.

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This story is from the January 2020 edition of Ships Monthly.

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