Pressure rises in London

Car maker Volvo, A.P. Moller - Maersk, Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC) and other container liners are urging IMO member states to stick to their agreed timeline for adopting measures to reduce greenhouse gases (GHGs) from ships. These are the IMO's so-called mid-term measures and are expected to become a global GHG fuel standard and a GHG pricing mechanism.

They argue that IMO member states have to reach a concensus on these measures at next week’s Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC 82) meeting to remain on track to adopt them next year.

And even if the mid-term measures are adopted next year, the soonest they can be implemented is 2027, which leaves only three years before the IMO's 2030 targets.

The Clean Shipping Coalition says a global GHG fuel standard should favour wind-propulsion and zero-emission fuels on ships.

Pacific and Caribbean island nations are pushing for a global tax on GHG emissions from ships. They want CO2-equivalent emissions to cost shipping companies $150/mt, a price level that is also endorsed by the Clean Shipping Coalition.

The IMO’s GHG reduction working group is meeting in London this week to discuss these potential mid-term measures and its findings will be presented at next week’s MEPC 82 meeting.

In other news, the Norwegian Port of Oslo has launched a shore power facility for cruise ships at Revier Quay. All docking cruise ships need to connect to shore power by 2026, Oslo’s vice mayor Leirvik North said.

Estonia’s Port of Tallinn and US-based chemical producer Protio aim to produce e-methanol for bunkering at the port’s Muuga Harbour.

A tugboat tested ammonia bunkers in the Hudson River in the US. The tugboat was retrofitted with an ammonia-to-electric power system made by Amogy. The ammonia was produced with renewable energy, which is still a small-scale bunker fuel type, but one that is forecast to scale substantially in the coming decades.

By Konica Bhatt

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