The International Chamber of Shipping (ICS) on Thursday (9 January) said it has joined 47 governments in a joint submission to the final round of negotiations at the United Nations’ International Maritime Organization (IMO) to adopt a maritime greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions pricing mechanism to achieve net zero GHG emissions from international shipping by 2050. 

The joint text is supported by major shipping nations such as Greece, Japan, Korea and the United Kingdom, the world’s largest flag States including Bahamas, Liberia, Marshall Islands and Panama, all EU States (and the European Commission), other African countries such as Nigeria and Kenya, plus Small Island Developing States from the Caribbean and the Pacific.

The joint submission by governments sets out convergent regulatory text for amendments to the IMO MARPOL Convention, which will require shipping companies operating ships on international voyages to make GHG contributions per tonne of CO2e emitted to a new “IMO GHG Strategy Implementation Fund”.

ICS said the key purpose of this mandatory GHG charge will be to reduce the cost gap between zero/near-zero GHG emission (ZNZ) fuels such as green methanol, ammonia and hydrogen and conventional bunker fuels, to incentivise the accelerated uptake of green energy sources. 

Revenue generated will be used to reward the production and uptake of ZNZ marine fuels, whilst also providing billions of US dollars annually to support the maritime GHG reduction efforts of developing countries.

International Chamber of Shipping Secretary General, Guy Platten, said: “The industry fully supports the adoption by IMO of a GHG pricing mechanism for global application to shipping.”

“The joint text put forward by this broad coalition is a pragmatic solution and the most effective way to incentivise a rapid energy transition in shipping to achieve the agreed IMO goal of net zero emissions by or close to 2050.”

“We are very pleased that such a large and diverse group of nations now firmly supports a common approach to maritime carbon charging. This proposed joint text has been hard fought and is broadly based on ideas which ICS has been advocating for the past ten years.

“While a large number of governments now support a universal flat rate GHG contribution by ships – or something similar – a minority of governments continue to have concerns. Working in co-operation with all IMO Member States we will do our best to allay such concerns during the final stages of these critical negotiations about regulatory text.”

This mature regulatory proposal will be considered by a critical IMO meeting in February – in the week of 17 February 2025 at ISWG-GHG 18. 

If the MARPOL amendments are approved by IMO in April 2025, they should enter into force globally in early 2027, with the collection of annual GHG contributions from ships commencing in 2028.

Note: The joint proposal to IMO for a maritime GHG emissions pricing mechanism can be found here.

Photo credit: International Maritime Organization
Published: 10 January, 2025

A pair of dual fuel (diesel and LNG) RAstar 4200-DF standby vessels have recently entered service with Hongkong Salvage & Towage (HKST), according to naval architect company Robert Allan Ltd recently.

Built by Cheoy Lee Shipyards, LNG Sentinel I and LNG Sentinel II were specifically designed for service at the Hong Kong LNG Terminal Limited (HKLTL) import terminal.

Featuring a unique electrical propulsion system with Z-drives that can receive power from both diesel and dual fuel (diesel and LNG) propulsion gensets, these vessels will help maintain a safety zone around the terminal and assist with berthing of LNG carriers to the jetty. 

They will also transport personnel plus equipment between Hong Kong and the floating regasification and storage unit (FSRU) and jetty. Their standby duties may include emergency towing of the FSRU, fire-fighting, spill response, and rescue.

Working closely with both HKST and Cheoy Lee Shipyards through the design process was key to enabling Robert Allan to design this vessel pair that are customised for the missions for which they will be tasked.

These vessels are the 8th and 9th LNG dual fuel tugs completed to five different Robert Allan designs, with three classification societies, and for service on three continents.

Photo credit: Robert Allan Ltd
Published: 30 July 2024

Filtration company LiqTech International on Thursday (25 July) said it has entered into a partnership agreement with and Danbee Marine, a South Korean-based maritime representative to the shipping industry, to market LiqTech's marine scrubber water treatment solutions within South Korea.

Established in 2009, Danbee Marine, has been focused on delivering fuel treatment chemicals to reduce fuel consumption and emissions within the Korean maritime market. 

“Danbee Marine has a strong presence and foothold with major ship owners and shipyards with a deep insight into marine engineering and equipment. The addition of LiqTech's compact and efficient marine scrubber water treatment system offering is a synergistic extension of their existing product offerings,” LiqTech said in a statement. 

According to LiqTech, its marine scrubber water treatment system for both closed-loop and hybrid scrubbers “outperforms discharge limits regulated by the IMO Marpol VI”. 

LiqTech's solutions remove unburned fuel oil, soot particles, ash, and heavy metals from marine scrubber wastewater and take an active role in reducing world pollution. 

Since LiqTech's first marine installations in 2017, the company has successfully installed retrofit and new-build marine scrubber water treatment systems on more than 170 large commercial ships for many global ship owners. 

“Furthermore, ship owners have gained tremendous fuel savings leveraging LiqTech's water treatment units, providing for enhanced ROI,” the firm said. 

“We are excited to expand our presence in the Korean ship building market through this partnership agreement with Danbee Marine who has a strong network in the South Korea marine market,” said Fei Chen, CEO of LiqTech International. 

“As the second largest ship building market in the world, we have had a presence with a small number of key customers, including Hyundai Merchant Marine over the years, but have lacked the large-scale presence across a wide variety of ship builders that Danbee can provide.”

“I look forward to working with the capable team at Danbee to deliver our advanced and proven marine scrubber water treatment solutions to help ship owners and ship builders in South Korea fulfil regulatory requirements.”

Photo credit: Felix Fuchs on Unsplash
Published: 29 July, 2024