Swire Shipping, a division of China Navigation, on Tuesday (1 June) said the implementation of Market Based Measures will expedite the upstream development of the necessary global delivery infrastructure for sustainable low or zero carbon bunker fuels.

As such, the company officially supports the earliest global adoption and implementation of the “Proposal for IMO to Establish a Universal Mandatory Greenhouse Gas Levy” submitted by the Republic of the Marshall Islands and The Solomon Islands to IMO MEPC 76.

Swire Shipping is planning to reduce its environmental footprint, ultimately to net zero by, and preferably well before, 2050, according to James Woodrow, Managing Director, The China Navigation Company; parent of Swire Shipping.

The company is currently:

1. Implementing T&O measures and offsetting any outstanding Scope 1 and 2 emissions. We will be offering to offset these emissions for our Swire Shipping clients on a voluntary basis through our new “Sail Greener” programme that we will be launching in mid-2021. However ultimately these emissions will have to be paid for by the customer on a mandatory basis.
2. Engaging as an active partner with leading decarbonisation centres globally, and like-minded organisations including The Sustainable Shipping Initiative and The Getting to Zero Coalition, both at the knowledge-partner level and also to cooperate as a provider of commercial shipping test-beds where viable.
3. Delivering in the longer term a low or zero carbon fleet, starting by at least 2030, using sustainable, alternate fuels, for which current science points to one or more of green Ammonia, Biofuel, Hydrogen and Methanol, once the safety, scalability, technological and training issues have been mitigated.

Additionally, Swire Shipping is planning to build the first low-carbon, low-cost sail-assisted inter-island cargo vessel (attached photo) to serve communities in the Pacific that lack cargo handling infrastructure. It plans to sign the building contract for the pilot vessel of this class by the end of June 2021, for delivery 12 months later.

Swire Shipping believes the upstream development of the necessary global delivery infrastructure for sustainable low or zero carbon fuels will be expedited if Market Based Measures are introduced that more realistically price the maritime sector’s GHG emissions.

“With many communities at risk of disappearing we must take action to drive change. We are committed to reducing its greenhouse gas footprint, ultimately to net zero by, and preferably well before, 2050,” said Woodrow.

“Whilst we have already invested USD 650 million over the last seven years to renew our fleet to be more carbon efficient, further reductions in our GHG footprint will require more Technical and Operational (T&O) measures to be adopted. 

“Ultimately though we will not be able to reduce sufficiently our contribution to global warming until a sustainable alternative – low or zero carbon fuel – becomes technically and financially viable.” 

 

Photo credit: Initial Design © VPLP Project Cerulean prototype
Published: 2 June, 2021