Technology Development Partnership Publishes Report on How Freight Shipping Can Reduce Emissions

UK – The Energy Technologies Institute (ETI), a public-private partnership between top global energy and engineering companies and the UK Government, has published a new report which highlights affordable measures and technologies that could be taken to reduce both fuel consumption and carbon emissions from ocean shipping. With the UN’s International Maritime Organization (IMO) predicting that maritime emissions could potentially rise by 250% by 2050 compared to 2011 levels the ETI hopes that freight shipping lines will implement the measures they propose.

The ETI report ‘HDV Marine Insights’ analyses the UK merchant shipping fleet, the potential opportunities for ship owners and operators and identifies the most promising technologies that could reduce fuel consumption economically. It states that a 30% fleet fuel consumption reduction can be achieved by using a combination of innovative technologies with an economic payback of around two years.

With the greatest CO₂ emissions coming from tankers, bulk carriers and container ships, the ETI hopes to encourage greater fuel economy as the elimination of use of fossil-fuels for shipping is in their opinion simply an impossibility, a view shared by many practical analysts. Therefore, implementing new fuel saving technology is crucial to the industry in reducing emissions.

To encourage stakeholders to adopt these new technical developments the ETI is conducting a series of at sea demonstrations of new technologies over the next three years. As introducing new technology is often viewed as potentially a risky and costly affair by potential users, the demonstrations are hoped to encourage the lines to take up the proposed solutions. Stuart Bradley, ETI Strategy Manager and the report’s author said:

“Shipping emits significant amounts of CO₂ which, without significant intervention, will rise as a proportion of our national emissions as we become less carbon dependent in other industry sectors. Unlike the power and heat sectors and other forms of transport there does not seem to be a credible alternative to fossil fuels to power vessels, so in the medium to long term, the best potential to achieve substantial CO₂ reductions is by reducing fuel consumption.

“Our work to date has shown that using innovative technologies could reduce fuel consumption by up to 30% with an economic payback period of around two years but the technology needs to be demonstrated to give confidence to stakeholders and overcome market barriers. This is why we are working towards demonstrating advancements in flettner rotors, high efficiency propulsion systems and waste heat recovery systems and further details on these individual projects will be announced shortly.”

Photo: The first Flettner rotored ship Buckau, constructed in 1924.