Marine fuels testing and decarbonisation services company VPS on Thursday (28 March) held its Fuel Quality, New Fuels & Decarbonisation Challenges seminar at Jin Mao Tower in Shanghai, China.

The event was attended by about 100 local shipping executives and graced by Zhang Ai Guo, Secretary General, China Shipowners’ Association (CSA) and Zhang Wei, Director, China Maritime Safety Administration (MSA) Shanghai who both delivered opening speeches.

CSA – Green maritime developments part of national plan

“President Xi Jinping has encouraged green development and the transition to alternative fuels for the maritime sector is an important means towards lower carbon and pollution emissions especially in highly populated areas,” said Mr Zhang of CSA.

“By 2030, we are going to reduce traditional fuel consumption by 20 to 40 million tonnes. The Chinese Ministry of Transport has launched some options for green shipping.

“We going to establish our own standards for green shipping technology. By 2030, green power such as LNG and methanol, as well as other low carbon energy will be used to propel Chinese vessels plying not only inland rivers but also international waters.”

Zhang Wei, Director, China Maritime Safety Administration (MSA) Shanghai

MSA, Shanghai – Establishment of Maritime Energy Efficiency Centre

Mr Zhang of China MSA Shanghai branch updated the audience about the recent establishment of its Maritime Energy Efficiency Centre as part of operations to support International Maritime Organization (IMO) activities.

“The Maritime Energy Efficiency Centre was opened about a week ago and work is driven by the IMO Data Collection System (DCS),” he explained.

“IMO has asked related flag States to record and report fuel oil consumption data of their ships, which will be later used to calculate the vessel’s operational Carbon Intensity Indicator (CII).

“This centre is established to fulfil the requests of IMO and we are going to responsibly provide data of the Chinese fleet to ensure compliance when operating on international waters.”

Captain Rahul Choudhuri, President Strategic Partnerships, VPS

VPS – Proposes ‘joint effort’ to enhance biofuel bunker quality standards

Captain Rahul Choudhuri, President Strategic Partnerships, VPS began his presentation by highlighting the ‘Two Mountains’ theory of President Xi which noted clear waters and lush mountains to be invaluable assets when compared to resources of gold and silver.

He further mentioned: “As earlier pointed out by Mr Zhang of China MSA, decarbonisation is a joint effort required by all stakeholders.”

Noting the inadequacy of current ISO 8217 fuel quality standards for biofuels as a marine fuel, Captain Choudhuri said Singapore has developed its own provisional national standard on specifications of marine biofuel (WA 2:2022) and will be happy to work with China to enhance its biofuel bunker quality standards.

“I am pretty sure China will be a big biofuel producer in the future. We should find common waters to develop a strong biofuel standard for local and global use by China’s shipping industry,” he suggested.

Li Ting, Decarbonisation Advisor, VPS

VPS – Showcases suite of maritime decarbonisation advisory services

Li Ting, Decarbonisation Advisor, VPS meanwhile gave delegates an introduction to the firm’s suite of maritime decarbonisation advisory services including Maress, Portstats and Emsys which leverages upon VPS’ operational, fuel and emissions databases.

Ms Ting shared Maress is a digital management system for fleet data-driven decarbonisation. The subscription-based system, currently used by about 500 vessels, has reduced more than 200,000 metric tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions within the last three years.

“Maress has helped companies such as Tidewater decrease fuel consumption and related GHG emissions by 5% per active vessel in the North Sea fleet, while increasing efficiency by as much as 13% in some vessels,” she said.

“A partnership with SIEM Offshore has shown Maress increasing its overall FO-efficiency for its fleet of 22 vessels by 2.3% higher than the expected consumption baseline.”

Photo credit: VPS
Published: 8 April 2024