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Shipping transport seeks to adopt clean technologies

Shipping transport seeks to adopt clean technologies

On one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes, ships laden with furniture, cars, clothing and sundries ply the Pacific between Los Angeles and Shanghai.

If plans go smoothly, this corridor will become a showcase for reducing carbon emissions in the shipping sector, which generates 3% of the total blamed for global warming.

The percentage is much less than that coming from cars, trucks, railways or airplanes, but it is still high and growing.

The International Maritime Organization (IMO), which regulates commercial shipping, wants to halve its greenhouse gas emissions by mid-century and could make significant reductions this year.

“The shipping sector must embrace decarbonisation”IMO Secretary General Kitack Lim said in February.

Achieving the agency’s goals will require major changes to the ships and infrastructure.

This is inspiring plans for the establishment of “green shipping corridors” on major routes where new technologies and methods can be quickly applied and scaled up.

More than 20 such associations have been proposed. They are now mostly on paper, but are expected to take shape in the coming years.

The goal: to unite bunker manufacturers, ship owners and operators, cargo owners and ports in a common effort.

FIRST AMONG THE FIRST

Los Angeles and Shanghai joined their association last year.

“The idea is that a container leaves a factory in a truck with zero emissions (in China),” said Gene Seroka, executive director of the Port of Los Angeles.

“It will arrive at the port of Shanghai, be loaded onto a ship with a zero-emission cargo handling equipment unit, and sail the Pacific Ocean on a zero-carbon emission ship. Once I get to Los Angeles, it will happen the other way around.” with carbon-free management and distribution.

Los Angeles closed a second deal in April with nearby Long Beach and Singapore. Others in the works include the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence River; a Chilean network, and numerous brokers in Asia, North America and Europe.

C40 Cities, a global coalition of mayors for climate action, advocates green corridors as “tools that can turn aspiration into action by uniting the entire shipping value chain”, said Alisa Kreynes, deputy director.

However, Kreynes was cautious: “I can’t help but wonder how much of this is public relations and how much of it will actually be put into practice. It’s going to take a culture shift when we think about how to get things from point A to point B.”

New approaches developed in green corridors could produce quick results, said John Bradshaw, technical director for environment and safety at the World Shipping Council.

“I am confident that the sector will have zero emissions by 2050″, he added.

INCREASE THE PRESSURE

From teas to sneakers, some of the pantry and clothes you own now may have spent time on a ship.

Around 90% of the merchandise is transported by sea, some in gigantic ships larger than four football fields, each with thousands of containers of consumer products.

Around 58,000 commercial vessels ply the seas. Its emissions are less perceptible than those of land transport vehicles such as trucks, although the noxious fumes from ships provoke protests among port populations.

Maritime trade volumes will triple by 2050, according to forecasts by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).

Studies forecast that greenhouse gas emissions from the shipping sector could reach 15%.

However, the 2015 Paris climate agreement exempts shipping, in part because the ships roam the globe, while the pact embraces the goals of each nation.

“No one wants to take responsibility” said Allyson Brown of the Pacific Environment group. “A ship can fly the Chinese flag, but who is responsible for the emissions from that ship when it transports merchandise to the United States?”

Responding to mounting pressure, the IMO in 2018 presented a plan to reduce emissions by 50% by mid-century compared to 2008 levels. An update expected in July could impose more ambitious targets favored by the United States, Europe and small island nations. Brazil, China and India, among others, are opposed.

US President Joe Biden’s administration wants a zero-emissions target, a State Department official told The Associated Press, but less than half of major shipping companies have committed to meeting international carbon targets. . And there is no consensus on how to meet them.

Proposals range from slowing ships to charging them for emissions, as the European Union did last year.

“It is difficult to decarbonize global shipping activity… due to the energy required to cover long distances with heavy loads”said Lee Kindberg, head of environment and sustainability for Maersk North America, part of AP Moller-Maersk, which has more than 700 vessels. “It is difficult, but we consider it feasible.”

BUT HOW?

mechanical candles. Batteries, liquid fuels with low or zero carbon.

These are some of the propulsion methods proposed to replace the heavy fuel oil used by most commercial ships, the thick residue from refining Petroleum. emits Greenhouse gases and pollutants that affect human health: sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxide and soot.

The search for alternatives will be a priority for green shipping corridors.

For now, liquefied natural gas is by far the preferred option. Worldwide, it is used by 923 of the 1,349 commercial ships that do not use conventional fuels, according to a study last year by DNV, a Norwegian maritime accreditation society. Ships with batteries or hybrid systems are a distant second.

Many environmentalists oppose LNG because it emits methane, another powerful greenhouse gas. Proponents say it is the fastest and cheapest substitute for heavy fuel oil.

Of the 1,046 alternative energy ships ordered, 534 use LNG and 417 are hybrids with batteries, DNV reported. Another 35 will use methanol, which analysts see as a cleaner alternative on the rise.

Moller-Maersk plans to launch 12 cargo ships next year that will use “green methanol” produced with renewable resources such as industrial waste. Some of its ships use biodiesel produced from used cooking oil.

The company is collaborating on research that could lead to ammonia- or hydrogen-powered ships by the mid-2030s.

“This is the first step in turning our fleet transformation into something much more climate friendly,” Kindberg said.

Norsepower offers a fresh twist on an old technology: the wind.

The Finnish company has created “rotor sails,” cylinders about 30 meters (33 yards) tall that are attached to the decks of ships and rotate with the wind. Differences in air pressure on opposite sides of the artifacts help propel the ship.

An independent analysis found that rotary sails installed on a Maersk tanker in 2018 saved 18% of fuel in one year. Norsepower CEO Tuomas Riski said others have saved between 5% and 25%, depending on wind conditions, type of vessel and other factors.

Thirteen ships use the artifacts or have ordered them, Riski said.

“Mechanical sails have an essential role in shipping decarbonisation”said. “They are not enough by themselves, but they can make a great contribution.”

The firm Fleetzero maintains that electric ships are the best alternative for decarbonization. The Alabama-based company, founded two years ago, builds cargo ships powered by rechargeable batteries.

CEO Steven Henderson says he is aiming for smaller, more agile ships than giant container ships. They would go to ports that have recharged batteries to exchange them for those that are beginning to run low. Fleetzero expects its prototype ship to start carrying cargo in the coming months.

WHO WILL BE THE FIRST?

Before building or buying low-emission ships, companies want assurances that clean fuels will be available and at a good price.

For their part, the fuel-producing companies want there to be enough ships to guarantee a strong market.

And both need port infrastructure to receive the new ships, such as electrical connections and clean fuel supply mechanisms.

But the ports are waiting for demand to justify such expensive upgrades. Adopting new zero-emission trucking and cargo handling equipment will cost the Port of Los Angeles $20 billion, officials say.

“Once a (green) corridor is placed on the map”, said Jason Anderson, director of programs for the NGO ClimateWorks Foundation“at least everyone is moving in the same direction.”

To succeed, it will require government regulations and funding for brokers, as well as support from shipping clients, said Jing Sun, a professor of marine engineering at the University of Michigan.

The ship is the most economical way to transport things”Sun said.

An organization called Cargo Owners for Zero Emission Vessels promises that by 2040 it will only use zero emission shipping companies. The 19 signatories include Amazon, Michelin and Target.

“When the big buying companies come together to say that this is what we want to happen, the rest of the chain gains the confidence to make the required investments,” said Ingrid Irigoyen, associate director of the NGO Aspen Institute, which helped create the group.

Source: AP

Source: Gestion

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