ICS identifies sulphur and GHG reduction as priorities

ICS chairman Esben Poulsson highlighted the challenge of ensuring sufficient supply of compliant fuel at all ports, as well as shipowners’ responsibility to complete ship-specific implementation plans as two of the practical issues that need to be addressed by the end of the year. The IMO Marine Environment Protection Committee needs to complete work around fuel safety and compatibility at its meeting in May 2019, as shipowners begin ordering compliant fuels.

Speaking after ICS Board meeting in London last week, Poulsson identified a number of short-term steps to meet the IMO’s ambitious greenhouse gas reduction targets, which include a 40% efficiency improvement by 2030 and a 50% total cut in the sector’s GHG emissions by 2050.

The ICS Board endorsed proposals to IMO on short term measures, including tightening the Energy Efficiency Design Index (EEDI) for new ships beyond existing requirements for a 30% reduction for 2025 deliveries compared with a 2013 baseline, as well as proposals for a ‘Super SEEMP’ whereby existing Ship Energy Efficiency Management Plans could be subject to mandatory external audits, probably as part of the ISM Code.

However, the ICS’ s focus is firmly on the longer-term challenge of helping the industry decarbonise.

“The ICS Board agreed that the industry cannot achieve the 2050 GHG reduction target using fossil fuels. Over the next decade we are therefore going to require massive investment in research and development of zero CO2 emitting propulsion systems and other technologies which don’t yet exist in a form that can be readily applied to international shipping, especially in deep sea trades. This will need to be a key component of the IMO strategy when detailed ideas for long term measures are taken forward during 2020,” Poulsson concluded.