GL First Class Exchange Forum Dubai: Focus on ship related emissions to air

Dubai, 10 June 2008 – Maritime classification society Germanischer Lloyd conducted its first Exchange Forum in Dubai. The event which dealt with shipping emissions and energy efficiency, was attended by a large number of representatives from the local maritime industry in the UAE: shipping companies, ship management agencies and shipyards.

Organised by GL Office Dubai, the Forum highlighted the current status of emission control in respect to Sulphur-oxide emissions (SOx) Nitrogen-oxide emissions (NOx) and Carbon-dioxide emissions (CO2). The main speaker was Dr Pierre C. Sames, Director Strategic Research and Development of Germanischer Lloyd. He gave an overview about “Ship emissions – status and challenge ahead” in which he underlined the necessity of the IMO to obtain an international agreement on further reduction of ship related emissions to air. While SOx and NOx emissions have a strong impact on coastal regions, CO2 emissions pose a global challenge. Given the expansion of the world fleet, reducing air emissions has a high environmental priority for the shipping industry.

In respect to CO2 emissions, Germanischer Lloyd has developed an operational CO2-index for shipping. It is based on the forthcoming IMO requirements and allows each ship owner and ship management company to get an overview of the amount of CO2 emission by each ship.

In 2003, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) tasked IMO to initiate developments related to the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions from ships. The assembly of the IMO adopted this in a resolution. In 2005, IMO's Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC) completed an interim guideline on operational CO2-indexing, as a first step towards measuring the CO2-emissions from international shipping. Today, the operational index is considered to be one element of a package of measures to eventually facilitate CO2 emission reductions from shipping. Although shipping is one of the smaller contributors to global CO2 emissions, the inclusion of maritime transport in a future emission control regime is currently under discussion at international political levels and is assumed to become reality after 2012.

According to Pierre Sames, the implementation of the operational CO2 index is one step to consistently reduce CO2 emissions. It is considered as a future link towards market-based instruments like, e.g., an emission certificate trading system.

The new CO2-index tool can be already used to record fuel consumption, the amount of cargo and the distance between two consecutive ports. With carbon emission factors specified by IMO, the operational CO2-index is calculated for each voyage. After a year, all data of a ship and its sister vessels are averaged. A GL surveyor will check the recorded data and eventually issue a certified operational CO2-index on behalf of a flag state. Applied on several ships of a fleet, it allows a comparison of CO2-indices. This function in particular is expected to trigger a learning effect as differences in fuel consumption will be made explicit and more transparent with the data associated to each vessel and voyage segment.

With certified CO2-index values becoming public, the transport industry can actively further minimize emissions. Ships with a low index will transport more cargo and improve their index even further.

Closely related to cutting air emissions Pierre Sames focused in his second presentation on the broad range of topics related to ship efficiency. In an industry characterised by increasingly keen competition, the key issues are designing, building and operating ships efficiently. An efficient ship is profitable and environmentally compatible. With regards to cost efficiency, compliance with stricter environmental standards and technical safety for the maritime industry worldwide, Germanischer Lloyd engages in the research and development of ship efficiency. “Today, each ship owner is interested to reduce fuel consumption of his ships”, said Mr. Sames. “The fuel costs for a series of eight container ships over 25 years are 8.8 billion US-Dollars on current prices. It makes a lot of sense to invest in ship efficiency.” He pointed out, that a lot can be done for newbuildings. Design measures include optimized hull forms and hull structure, air cushions, improved inflow onto the propeller and enhanced engine efficiency. For existing ships operative measures can apply to coating types, the performance of the crew, the management of the energy on board, reducing speed as well as an optimized load factor. In the long run, alternative fuels have to be analyzed. The GL expert explained the potential of gas-fuelled ships which are one step towards the implementation of fuel cell systems. At the end of GL First Class Exchange Forum Dr Sames concluded: “With ever rising fuel prices, ship efficiency is the key to economic shipping.”

About Germanischer Lloyd
Germanischer Lloyd (GL) is a leading classification society with a global network of 208 offices in 77 countries. The classification society conducts the safety surveys on board of more than 6,600 ships with about 75 Mio. GT. In addition, 127 flag states have authorized GL to perform statutory duties. It has 4.400 staff members worldwide.

Germanischer Lloyd press release