Maritime Affairs Program (MAP) Handbill Spotlight

In celebration of World Maritime Day 2022, the IMO chose “New technologies for greener shipping” as the theme of this year. Fundamentally, only technological innovations can facilitate green shipping to the greatest extent. The theme also reflects the idea that, through technological improvements, the IMO will “leave no one behind” in this process of supporting a green transition of the maritime sector into a sustainable future. The IMO presented some “potential game-changing green technologies” to support this theme. For example, the IMO-supported Maritime Technology Cooperation Centre (MTCC) is starting to install Propeller Boss Cap Fins (PBCF) on ships to enhance propeller efficiency. Theoretically, it can help to reduce 9,000 tons of emissions per ship each year. They also plan to use more marine solar power systems on smaller ships to reduce at most 98% of pollutant emissions. The IMO also plans to develop new management technologies and systems—such as using AI for ship trim optimization—to minimize the damage done to ocean organisms. Allowing cargo ships sailing empty is actually a waste in disguise. And as mentioned previously, ballast water can seriously damage marine ecology systems if ships do not dump them scientifically. The problems such as ballast water and shipping efficiency are the causing factors of pollution that are often overlooked.

Meanwhile, unsatisfied with the IMO’s slow decision-making, countries have started promoting green shipping in their own ways. During COP 26, 22 countries signed the Clydebank Declaration for green shipping corridors to promote green shipping gradually around the globe. Although the green shipping corridors only affect a minor amount of ships, it is still an effective way to reduce GHG emissions on some of the busiest ship routes in the world. It also allows officials and scientists to test the feasibility of green shipping technologies, such as clean fuel, before using them on a large scale. Although China did not join the Clydebank Declaration because it bypassed the IMO, China participated in building a green corridor between Shanghai and Los Angeles, the busiest ship route worldwide. There are many countries that issue their initial actions targeting green shipping challenges. For example, the Biden Administration has issued new initiatives to encourage the shipping industry to decarbonize. Private companies like ABB, Rolls-Royes, and Shell have also stepped up to enhance and advance green shipping; vital, given how expensive green shipping is.

Keep In Mind

This year’s World Maritime Day’s theme symbolizes an international recognition of the necessity of developing constructive technologies to facilitate greener shipping. In fact, many governments and private enterprises have already started to work on achieving green shipping. On the one hand, this is a moment for all of humanity to work together for the common good. Even countries and organizations that are at odds on other issues can take this opportunity to collaborate on the same objective, making the best use of human ingenuity on green shipping. On the other hand, it needs to be recognized that some parties still have disagreements on how to achieve green shipping. Needless to say, people always have different ideas on how to realize a goal, especially since all countries are still exploring the most suitable methods for themselves. However, nations also have a wide range of capabilities, needs, expertise, etc. that do not always align. The international community needs to formulate a set of scientific standards as soon as possible to avoid the situation where “bad money drives out the good.” In addition, it is more important to prevent some countries from using green shipping as an excuse to take advantage of others on maritime issues.

However, there are also questionable activities regarding green shipping that need to be monitored. Greenwashing is one of the concerns that scientists usually have. Fuels such as methanol are not as carbon neutral as they appear to be. Carbon was still generated in their production, though it was not released during combustion. Companies should be encouraged to test different methods, since we are still far from finding the best solution to achieve green shipping yet. Policymakers need to be extremely cautious when deciding which enterprises they should support or even subsidize, and make sure that businesses doing greenwashing do not take up valuable and limited government resources. In addition, the European Union plans to include maritime emissions into the emissions trading scheme (ETS), but many exporting countries questioned it because it will only make shipowners spend more time and fuel to transfer their goods in the “bunkering countries” before entering the EU. Such policies not only cannot curb emissions, but it will also encourage other countries to become bunkering ports for economic reasons.