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Reuters
6 days ago
- Business
- Reuters
Shipping industry still at sea as it tries to navigate to net zero
June 2 - From the outside, it looked like a normal ship, docked in London's Canary Wharf on a sunny March morning. But the Green Pioneer was showcasing a significant innovation, one that its owners hope will catalyse regulators and port operators to make changes needed to secure a role for the new fuel in the sector's transition to net zero. The International Maritime Organization (IMO) in April agreed mandatory emissions limits and a global price on emissions of ships that exceed them, slated to come into force in 2028 if ratified later this year. Shipowners will have to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions intensity of the fuel that powers their ships by 30% by 2035 and 65% by 2040. This follows in the wake of the European Union extending its emissions trading scheme (ETS) to shipping in 2024, and its FuelEU Maritime regulation, which came into force this year, setting lifecycle greenhouse gas (GHG) emission-intensity requirements on large vessels. The shipping sector already accounts for 3% of greenhouse gas emissions, but its contribution could swell to 5-8% by 2050 if no action is taken, according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Leading the way are members of the Global Maritime Forum's Getting to Zero Coalition, which groups 200 companies in the shipping value chain, along with key governments and NGOs. The coalition maintains that full decarbonisation by 2050 will require the uptake of scalable zero-emission fuels to displace at least 5% of the annual energy use of the sector by 2030. LNG ships using biomethane instead of natural gas, liquid methanol, ammonia, hydrogen and biofuels are all in the running to replace oil-based fuels, which currently account for 99% of energy used in international shipping. For the Green Pioneer's owners, Australian mining giant Fortescue, the best fuel option is ammonia, a compound of nitrogen and hydrogen that emits no CO2 when burned. If the hydrogen is produced with renewable energy, rather than natural gas, it would allow Fortescue to offer zero-carbon shipping of its products from Western Australia around the world, which last year emitted more than 3 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent. Fortescue has converted two of the four engines on the 75-metre Green Pioneer to run on ammonia, and London was one stop in a global tour to demonstrate that the fuel is both safe and viable. Last year, the vessel successfully completed the world's first dual-fuelled ammonia fuel load and trial in the Port of Singapore, and received a 'gas-fuelled ammonia' notation by classification society DNV to use ammonia in combination with diesel as a marine fuel. Though it acknowledges that there is currently not sufficient amounts of zero-carbon ammonia to supply the Green Pioneer – never mind the industry at large – Fortescue wants to catalyse jurisdictional and regulatory support for the fuel from ports worldwide so refuelling infrastructure and operational and safety know-how is ready as green ammonia producers scale supply. 'We very much focused on finding the long-term solution, not the transition solution, and how we can leapfrog to that directly,' explains Sara Edmonson, who leads global advocacy for Fortescue. Several major ports are making moves to ready themselves for ammonia, notes Andrew Hoare, Fortescue's head of green shipping. Singapore aims to install pilot bunkering infrastructure for ammonia by 2027, while in April, Rotterdam completed a trial transfer of ammonia between ships. However, high costs and safety concerns about the toxicity and corrosiveness of ammonia have meant there are only 25 ships on order globally that would use ammonia as a second fuel. Fortescue itself has had to shelve its target to produce 15 million metric tonnes per year of green hydrogen by 2030 due to the high cost of renewable electricity, though the company still plans to make green ammonia commercially available to shipping companies from 2027. Closer to commercial reality is methanol, which is less toxic and can be stored at ambient temperatures, although only green methanol, produced from biomass, or e-methanol - which is produced from green hydrogen, captured CO2 and renewable energy - offers significant GHG emissions savings. Shipping company AP Moller-Maersk, which has a target of net-zero emissions by 2040, now has 13 dual fuel (methanol and LNG) ships operating on the water, and another 20 ordered from shipyards in China and South Korea, with first delivery in 2028. The LNG engines can be operated using biomethane instead of natural gas. It is offering customers an ECO Delivery Ocean option, promising at least 65% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions on a lifecycle compared with conventional fossil fuels. Nestle, which ships 100% of its Maersk ocean cargo on dual-fuel vessels, has also made a substantial financial commitment. Last year Maersk entered into a long-term biomethanol offtake agreement with LONGI Green Energy Technology Co in China, a PV and electrolyser manufacturer, which will produce biomethanol from straw and fruit tree cuttings. Its dual-fuel ships are also being run on e-methanol from European Energy's newly opened Kasso e-methanol facility in Denmark, the world's first commercial-scale e-methanol facility, powered by an adjacent solar park. The facility will produce 42,000 metric tonnes, or 53 million litres, of e-methanol per year, enough to power one large 16,000-container vessel sailing between Asia and Europe.. In Germany, climate tech startup ICODOS, which grew out of a research project at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, has begun producing e-methanol using biogas captured from Mannheim's sewage treatment plant, which it says demonstrates the enormous potential of sewage treatment plants as an energy source, with up to 75,000 across Europe. Instead of relying on large-scale industrial production plants for CO2, 'the ICODOS approach enables cost-efficient production in smaller, decentralised units. This means that the production of sustainable fuels can be flexibly expanded and established throughout Europe,' a spokesperson said. There has also been progress on e-methanol production in the U.S. Last year, Orsted was awarded $100 million in federal funding to construct a similar facility, known as Power-to-X, along the Texas Gulf coast. The facility, which will produce up to 300,000 tonnes of e-methanol annually, will be powered by onshore wind and solar projects, and use captured carbon from an industrial facility, reducing CO2 emissions by more than 90% compared with conventional marine fuel, Orsted said. But e-methanol remains significantly more expensive than fossil-based methanol due to high renewable electricity costs and production inefficiencies. And supportive policies such as carbon pricing, lifecycle emissions standards and green shipping corridors will be essential to scale, ICODOS's chief technology officer, Dr Francisco Vidal Vazquez said in a blog. Pernille Dahlgaard, chief regulation and policy impact officer at the Fonden Maersk Mc-Kinney Moller Center for Zero Carbon Shipping, says there is currently no stand-out alternative fuel in terms of regulatory compliance, cost, availability and infrastructure readiness at ports. It is a complex picture for shipping companies, which are faced with having to making investments in ships with a lifetime of 25 years. 'It's really a massive global complexity that needs to move at the same time and speed,' she says. Ryan Bax, lead consultant at Lloyd's Register, says uncertainty in the market for alternative fuels is a significant barrier to uptake. 'Shipping companies are waiting to see how the markets are going to develop and mature. For small companies in particular, the idea of investing in a technology with an unknown future is a major factor,' he says. Biofuels, however, are seeing increasing demand, as they do not require any changes to infrastructure on ships or in ports. Maersk first trialled powering its existing ships with 20% sustainable second-generation biofuels in 2019, while Norway's Hoegh Autoliners had a record-high delivery in 2023 of 10,380 metric tonnes of biofuel, double its 2022 volumes. But there are sustainability concerns surrounding the provenance of biofuels. While Hoegh Autoliners' biofuel is certified by the International Sustainability and Carbon Certification system (ISCC), and derived from waste and advanced feedstocks, cheaper biofuels derived from palm and soy oil would likely make up nearly two-thirds of the biodiesel used to power global shipping in 2030, according to NGO Transport & Environment. And once deforestation and land clearance are taken into account, fuels made from such oils would produce two to three times more carbon emissions than even the dirtiest shipping fuels today, its analysis shows. As previously reported, T&E is concerned that the IMO hasn't taken as rigorous an approach to biofuels as the EU, and doesn't intend to include indirect land use change emissions in its lifecycle emissions calculations – as aviation body ICAO does for aviation fuels. For Dahlgaard, energy-efficiency technologies have several benefits over greener fuels. 'Alternative fuels all come with different pros and cons and different timelines, whereas energy efficiency technology, especially on the operational side, is available right now. There's nothing that prevents you from slow-steaming, or equalising your speed,' she says. Analysis by the centre found that operational energy efficiency technologies such as hull and propeller cleaning, voyage planning and weather routing required little investment and offered fuel savings of up to 15% compared with standard operational practices. There are numerous low-tech options for improving efficiency, with even low-energy lighting equipment – not standard design in the shipping industry – and modern hull coatings that prevent the build-up of algae and marine life to reduce friction able to reduce fuel consumption, according to a report by analysts DNV. Other energy-efficiency options are more sophisticated. Captains and ship operators now have access to software that can evaluate millions of routes daily and alert them to more fuel-efficient routes via an app or email. For example, software startup Sofar Ocean has deployed a global network of high-tech buoys that use sensors to collect real-time data on wave and wind. These provide more accurate weather forecasts to guide captains along energy-efficient routes. Sofar Ocean claims it cut fuel use by an average of 5.5% in 2024, saving $17,700 per voyage. Another technology that Lloyd's Register believes is at the tipping point for rapid adoption is wind-assisted propulsion systems (WAPS), which use the same principles as traditional sails, but apply advanced aerodynamics, modern materials automation and routing. According to maritime adviser DNV, around 50 commercial vessels have been equipped with WAPS as of January 2025, with most implementing the technology since 2020. Orderbooks indicate strong growth in the coming year, with 97 new builds scheduled to use the technology, it says. WAPS are already providing fuel savings of up to 20%, DNV says, but there is potential for this to rise to 40%, depending on the technology used and the type of ship. Rotor sails – vertical cylinders which spin and generate thrust – are proving the most popular WAPS so far, followed by suction wings, which drag air across an aerodynamic surface to generate lift and propulsive efficiency. As new regulations bed in, the next few years will be telling in terms of which technologies become mainstream, commentators believe. Though the IMO deal has been criticised by some as lacking in ambition, others in the sector believe it will provide the necessary impetus for investment in decarbonisation technologies. Emma Mazhari, head of energy markets, AP Moller, said the IMO decision had laid a solid foundation for decarbonisation. 'While the recent framework awaits final adoption in October, it marks a critical milestone introducing a global structure pricing emissions and rewarding fuels with deep greenhouse gas emissions reductions." Edmonson of Fortescue agreed, saying it had sent a strong message to the industry. 'You can continue to pollute, but delaying transitioning your fleet to zero emission fuels will be costly.'
Yahoo
01-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Historic deal pushes sweeping reform across commercial shipping: 'The first industry in the world with internationally mandated targets'
For the first time, commercial shipping companies will be required to transition to cleaner fuels or they will face fines. According to the BBC, after nearly a decade of negotiations, countries in the UN's International Maritime Organization agreed on a way to combat polluting gases from ships. The deal passed on April 11. The deal requires large international vessels to adopt less toxic fuel sources and increase their use or face fines of "up to $380 per ton" of polluting gases released from burning the fuel, per the BBC. The BBC said, "The agreement means it is now the first industry in the world with internationally mandated targets to reduce emissions." Jesse Fahnestock, director of decarbonisation at the Global Maritime Forum, said, "[It] is to be celebrated." So what kind of fuels could these ships use? According to the European Maritime Safety Agency, there are many options available for vessels that could "enter the market relatively quickly," including "e-ammonia, e-hydrogen, e-diesel, e-methane, and e-methanol." Companies are working on these alternatives. For example, a Norwegian-based shipping company, Yara, created the first container ship to run on clean ammonia. It's expected to set sail in 2026 and travel between Norway and Germany. Another Norwegian company, Purus Maritime, purchased hydrogen fuel worth $2.75 million for a hybrid ship it commissioned. In addition to hydrogen, it will also run on e-methanol, and it features solar panels and batteries. According to the BBC, shipping accounts for about 3% of global heat-trapping gases, but the industry has had a hard time cutting its pollution because of costs. However, the fines in this deal will go into a fund for more environmentally friendly fuel. The shipping industry currently has a negative impact on human health. The World Resource Institute said toxic gases affect the respiratory system and put people at risk of heart and lung disease. Should the government be able to control how we heat our homes? Definitely Only if it saves money I'm not sure No way Click your choice to see results and speak your mind. Adopting cleaner fuel sources will protect human health and the ocean's health. Economist Impact said reducing polluting gases "will help preserve marine biodiversity [and] restore degraded ecosystems." While this deal is the first of its kind, Fahnestock believes more needs to be done. You can use your voice to let your representatives know you want stricter rules in the shipping industry to reduce the risk of human and ocean health effects. Additionally, you could invest in companies working on alternative fuel sources and ships run by them. Join our free newsletter for good news and useful tips, and don't miss this cool list of easy ways to help yourself while helping the planet.
