Shipping told to slow down

Speed limits in the world’s shipping lanes will be proposed today by Ruth Kelly, the transport secretary, when she announces plans to regulate greenhouse gas emissions. Studies suggest that, although ships use less fuel than planes or road transport to carry a tonne of cargo, the industry is so big that it accounts for up to 4.5% of global emissions of carbon dioxide, the most prominent greenhouse gas.

Kelly will tell a meeting of the IMO that more must be done to tackle emissions from shipping, ?the most urgent and serious? challenge for the industry. She will call for operational improvements such as slowing down ships to maximise fuel efficiency and for more research into hydrogen fuel cells for power.

Martyn Williams, of Friends of the Earth, said: “There’s been a big focus on aviation because the plane is over your head and nobody really notices ships, but globally it’s at least the same as aviation, and it will become increasingly significant.” Norwegian-based Wilh Wilhelmsen, the world’s biggest car carrier, has already asked customers to accept slower deliveries. Ingar Skaug, chief executive, said that dropping average speeds of 18-19 knots by just two knots could save 5% of fuel use and emissions alone.

Kelly will call for a global emissions trading system under which the industry is set emissions caps and must pay for excess carbon emissions. “Such a scheme would provide incentives to the industry to improve the carbon efficiency of ships and ensure reductions in emissions were achieved at minimum cost,” she will tell the IMO?s 167 national members.

The IMO said an emissions trading scheme was being discussed by special working groups. But Lee Adamson, the organisation’s head of public information, said the agency wanted control of any system because, if it was part of the UN’s Kyoto Protocol, many major shipping nations would not take part.