Tanker Shipping: energy-efficient and environmentally-friendly

Press Release

INTERTANKO - the International Association of Independent Tanker Owners

Published: 22 October 2007 18:49
Updated: 23 October 2007 12:12


Tanker Shipping

Oil tankers transport over 2.4 billion tonnes of oil annually. Getting on for two thirds of the oil and oil products that the world consumes is transported by sea. Oil tankers are environmentally-friendly, energy-efficient and effective in terms of minimising greenhouse-gas (GHG) emissions.

One litre of fuel on a modern VLCC (Very Large Crude Carrier) moves one tonne of cargo more than 2,800 kilometres; this is more than twice as far as 20 years ago. The average carbon footprint (in terms of CO2 per tonne-kilometre) of each of the world’s oil tankers is less than one tenth of that of a heavy truck and less than one hundredth of that of an aircraft.

World shipping carries 90% of world trade and modern bulk carriers, container ships and other cargo ships, – supplying the world with energy, moving raw materials and shipping finished goods – are similarly environment-friendly and energy-efficient.

Over recent years tanker owners have invested an average of nearly $32bn a year in new ships and today over 75 percent of the internationally traded fleet is double hulled. With this increased protection for the oil cargo, as well as the ship’s fuel tanks, accidental oil spills this decade have been at record low levels - one third of the previous decade and one tenth of the 1970s - at a time when oil transported has more than doubled since the mid 1980s. Engines are more efficient and other measures, such as segregated ballast water, the application of new tin-free paints, optimal weather routing and the recovery of otherwise wasted heat from the engine and auxiliaries, have resulted in significant gains in energy efficiency and reductions in environmental impact.

A particular issue for the tanker industry has been the control of cargo vapours (volatile organic compounds - VOCs) during loading and on passage. VOCs have a global warming potential of approximately 20 times that of CO2 and the tanker fleet has voluntarily developed means to reduce these emissions to a small fraction of what they were.

Tanker owners are however not complacent and are committed to “continuous improvement” in all fields right across the industry. New technologies are being tested for application in both existing and new ships, including ways of achieving further efficiency gains and reducing harmful engine exhaust and GHG emissions.


Air Emissions

Air emissions from ships are regulated by the United Nations’ International Maritime Organization (IMO).

In 1997 an International Convention on the Regulation of Air Pollution from Ships (MARPOL Annex VI) was adopted. This Convention covers the emissions of oxides of sulphur (SOx) and nitrogen (NOx) as well CFCs and VOCs, and makes provisions for regional control zones for sulphur emissions.

As early as 2000 the IMO produced a study on Green House Gas (GHG) emissions and is currently working on an update to give a better foundation for future decisions. Additional measures to regulate GHG emissions are under review and will be debated more fully in the first half of 2008.

Sulphur levels in most fuels used today by ships average just 60% of the maximum permissible level in the IMO regulations. Within Sulphur Emission Control Areas (SECAs), currently covering the Baltic Sea and from November the North Sea and English Channel, where maximum sulphur levels are set at one third of the global level, the sulphur level of the fuels used by ships is frequently below the maximum permissible level. Since 2000 all new engines installed on ships also produce significantly lower NOx emissions.

This Convention is currently being revised with a target completion date of 2008.

INTERTANKO has submitted a specific proposal to the IMO which would require the use of cleaner fuel (distillate) on a global basis. Other (shorter and longer term) proposals under review include the application of abatement technologies and/or the expansion of Emission Control areas.

In order to fast-track the revision of Annex VI, the IMO has endorsed a proposal by its Secretary-General and has commissioned a comprehensive study, by an informal cross- government/industry Group of Experts, to evaluate the effects of the various proposals for revisions and establish the facts.

Inputs on current and future fuel consumption and emissions were invited by the IMO’s Group of Experts, whose members, although nominated by inter alia governments, oil and bunkering interests, engine manufacturers and ship owner representatives, serve the Group in their personal capacity. One of several such inputs was a report by INTERTANKO which included a model for estimating the global usage of marine fuels by ships subject to Annex VI regulations and their associated emissions, together with an explanatory note of the underlying assumptions in the model. This report makes no comparison with either estimates of previous years or with other transportation modes. The Group of Experts is responsible for making any comparisons with other models as part of the process of validation for its final report.

INTERTANKO will not comment on the contents of its report, the ongoing work of the IMO Group of Experts nor on speculation about the total or mix of emissions from shipping.

Regrettably, despite understandings with regard to the confidentiality of the work of the IMO Group of Experts, a third party (not INTERTANKO) has chosen to release the input provided by INTERTANKO and subsequently various press articles and comments have appeared out of context and in advance of the publication of the IMO Group of Experts’ report in December.

Recent press articles do not reflect the official position of INTERTANKO. Respecting these understandings on confidentiality, we consider it inappropriate to make specific comments while the work of the IMO’s Group of Experts is under way.


Growth in World Trade

World trade and ship numbers have naturally seen a steady increase over recent years, but in parallel there have been economies of scale (with larger, more efficient ships) and on a per unit basis emissions both of harmful substances (pollutants) and GHGs from ships have been reduced, allowing shipping still justifiably to assert that it is the most environmentally-friendly and the most energy-efficient transport mode.

Shipping is therefore a part of the solution to the challenges of air emissions and global warming which face the world today, rather than being the problem.

Tanker owners, and INTERTANKO, are totally committed to remaining at the forefront in providing the world with safe, environmentally sound and efficient seaborne transportation of oil, gas and chemical products.

INTERTANKO