The Baltic and International Maritime Council (BIMCO) is proposing the regulation of the propulsion power of ships in order to sustain the greenhouse gas (GHG) savings already achieved through slower steaming.
In a statement, BIMCO said it has submitted its proposal to the International Maritime Organization (IMO) last September 27 and will introduce it at the Intersessional meeting of the working group on reduction of GHG emissions from ships at the IMO in London on October 11-15.
Ships’ speed is the single most important variable influencing their CO2 emissions, and BIMCO said short-term measures to curb emissions should be pursued as a priority. But it also said that views differ as to which regulatory measure is best in enforcing the objective of controlling emissions.
Because measuring a ship’s speed is not an accurate exercise, other avenues have been investigated. It has been concluded that limiting ships’ propulsion power can be controlled accurately and at the same time, it has a close correlation to speed.
“While it is imperative to ensure the GHG emissions savings through slower steaming are sustained, it is also important that owners are incentivised to innovate,” said Lars Robert Pedersen, BIMCO deputy secretary general.
Setting a limit for ships’ power has already been suggested by Japan. BIMCO recommends that the power limit should be derived for each shipping sector from an assumed performance of an average ship sailing at current average trading speed within each sector.
“Establishing what that limit should be remains open and BIMCO suggests a mechanism for bridging focus on speed with focus on power using an average operational speed for each ship type as the basis, hereafter referred to as a target speed,” said the proposal.
“The main policy decisions to be made are setting of target speeds for each applicable ship type, at which the resulting power limit curves should be established. The setting of target speeds as the policy decision is also sending a political signal that shipping addresses speed as called for by some stakeholders.”
The proposed concept would have the benefit of capturing the emissions reductions already achieved since 2008 by slower steaming whilst maintaining the present competitive playing field between ships. It would similarly maintain the benefit of operating ever more efficient ships should owners opt for modifications to improve efficiency of their ships, it added.
Photo by Ines Hegedus-Garcia
