Riportiamo un ampio stralcio dell'interessante intervento intitolato "2011:Emission challenges squeeze shipping" edito ieri da Carbon Positive (CP), Società di consulenza e project management in tema di GHG "airborne", molto ascoltata. Il testo integrale è visionabile sul sito di CP: http://www.carbonpositive.net/viewarticle.aspx?articleID=2255
"It's looking like a big year for sulphur and greenhouse-gas (GHG) control in shipping, with regulatory, technological and fuel-supply issues providing the industry with plenty to think about. Against the backdrop of recessed global trade conditions the environmental screws are tighteningon ship-owners and charterers.
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With Brussels so far standing firm on the implementation of its next-stage sulphur oxides (SOx) fuel content reductions in 2015, the industry now enters 2011 with just four years to take steps to comply with a 0.1 per cent limit in the North and Baltic seas. The same limit and timetable applies along the vast North American coastlines too while new ECAs appear likely for Hong Kong, Singapore and the Persian Gulf in coming years. Globally, the S% limit is set to reduce to 3.5 in 2012 and to 0.5 by 2020 or 2025.
Forward planning for tough SOx rules must begin, yet there is no easy option for meeting such stringent requirements. For those affected, it will mean fuel switching to clean fuels, such as LNG or marine gas oil, or the installation of exhaust-scrubbing technology, both of
which will require in most cases ship or engine modifications, or outright replacement. Even assuming all those options become widely available, the choices are going to be different from ship to ship and fleet to fleet………………..
To complicate the issue, there are serious doubts that enough low-sulphur fuels will be available to meet demand. Already there is the prospect of rising price of cleaner distillate fuels as refiners drag their heels on upgrades needed to expand supply. Meanwhile, the slow pace of efforts in trying to de-carbonise international shipping is likely to reach a crossroads in 2011. One way or another, the next steps in regulation should be clearer by the end of the year, either the IMO agrees to act, the UN climate convention (UNFCCC) steps in, or, in the (most likely) event they both fail to do so, the EU will move to regulate international shipping in its waters.
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The Commission says the timing and content of any GHG proposal depends on the results of key meetings this year; the IMO MEPC meeting in London in July and the next UNFCCC climate conference in Durban in December.But it is already moving on developing regulation, having undertaken technical studies and laying the groundwork for a stakeholder consultation process set to get underway.
This week sees a high-level meeting in Brussels to firm up the proposed schedule in 2011. The Commission is aiming for regulation to be finalised to take effect by 2013, now just two years away. According to EU estimates, 35 per cent of world shipping emissions are connected to the EU, as measured by ship destination. This means a large chunk of the worldwide industry cannot escape European regulation. On the plus side, the options open to ship operators to cut GHG emissions are greater than those for the tough SOx limits.
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In energy efficiency, DNV’s research shows there’s already a host of changes that ship owners could make at negative cost; they will more than pay for themselves over time but are underutilised or not being pursued at all. These include slow steaming, weather routing,
propeller enhancements and hull air lubrication to name a few.
Switching to LNG fuel is instead increasingly seen as a longer term option for many shipping fleets especially in the short sea sector. And while exhaust scrubbing of CO2 is far less advanced than it is for sulphur oxides, the technology appears to be making progress with a number of promising endeavours in research and development. The onus is on ship owners,charterers and others in the industry to stay on top of regulatory, technological and operational developments in 2011."
(02 Feb. 2011 , Carbon Positive)
