‘World Maritime Day 2022’ was celebrated virtually on September 26. The event saw the presence of a large number of participants from the global maritime industry stakeholders, Government officials, seafarers, and their families in India and abroad.

Present on the webcast were Mr. Amitabh Kumar, IRS, Director General of Shipping, as the Chief Guest, along with Mr. Ajith Kumar Sukumaran, Chief Surveyor to the government of India, DG Shipping, Captain B K Tyagi, Chairman & MD The Shipping Corporation of India Limited (SCI), Mr. Atul Ubale, Director SCI, Mr. Kitack Jim, Secretary General International Maritime Organization (IMO), Captain R. K Muduli, Deputy Nautical Advisor to Govt of India cum Sr. Dy Director General (Tech), and Captain M.P Bhasin, Managing Director at MSC Crewing Services.

IMO’s 2022 theme of the discussion “New Technologies for Greener Shipping” brought intrinsic viewpoints on various technologies being implemented by the global maritime organizations, leading to sustainable development and growth of the maritime industry.

The theme ‘New Technologies for Greener Shipping’ reflects the need to support the green transition of the maritime sector towards a sustainable future while leaving no one behind. With climate change and environmental pollution becoming a larger threat day by day, each industry must take the responsibility to control its carbon footprint and its impact on the environment.

Atul Ubale said, “The maritime industry has done its bit by implementing the usage of newer technologies and usage of newer fuel options like the implementation of ballast water systems and moving towards cleaner fuels like LNG, Hydrogen & Ammonia; and speed nozzles & solar panels, and other renewable energy resources on various port operations. The government of India has undertaken a bigger initiative by committing to reduce the environmental pressures to achieve net zero and remove emissions by 2030.”

Addressing the gathering, D G Shipping Mr. Amitabh Kumar said, “The target of IMO is to achieve a 50% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.

GLOBAL CONCERN

“The IMO and the world community identify this concern and we now need to explore a suitable alternative fuel for shipping. Particularly Decarbonization of shipping and other sectors require an ecosystem for a consistent supply of identified alternative fuels. This, in turn, requires green renewable energy sources and technologies for the production of fuels and for the operation of ships on such fuels, infrastructure for bunkering, and a regulatory regime for safe ship operations, while accounting for the cost differential between alternative fuels and fossil fuels.”

He further stated, “India is working policies such as Maritime Vision 2030 to achieve specific green targets related to ports, supply chains, and shipping. Taking these considerations, India has identified the ‘Panch Amrit’ i.e., 5 Nectar elements as the 2030 Targets. First, Increase the non-fossil fuel capacity to 500 Gigawatts. The second is to meet 50% of energy requirements from renewable resources. The third is to reduce total projected carbon emissions by 1 billion tons from now, fourth is to bring down the carbon intensity of the economy to less than 45%. The fifth is to achieve the Net Zero target by 2070.”

Emphasizing on India’s stand for Green Shipping he said, “The Honorable Prime Minister of India has already launched the National Hydrogen Mission on 15^th August 2021 with an aim to meet targets to combat climate change and make India a green Hydrogen Hub. Towards this, an ambitious green hydrogen policy has been framed. This year the National Policy on Biofuels 2018 has been further amended to pave the way for the ‘Make in India’ drive thereby leading to a deduction in the import of petroleum products by the generation of more and more biofuels. This will promote the ‘Aatma Nirbhar Bharat’ to give impetus to the Prime Minister’s vision of India becoming energy independent by 2047.”

The Hydrogen Mission and National Bio-fuel policies are aimed toward the production of low-cost alternate fuels for different sectors of the economy focused on the regulatory regime for ship owners to pilot and adopt alternate fuels and technologies study-based futuristic policies to ensure a smooth transition to green shipping and promote adoption of technologies involved in international initiatives such as green corridors.

Captain R. K Muduli, addressing the theme said, “New technologies for greener shipping 2022, the theme provides an opportunity to focus on the importance of a sustainable maritime sector. Maritime nations including India are taking necessary steps in dealing with oceans making them pollution free, by use of alternative fuels and adaptation of system optimizations. Maritime India 2030 vision has multiple proactive initiatives to deal with maritime pollution namely the ‘Swatch Sagar’ portal, ban on single-use plastics, mandatory submission on fuel types, minimizing ships anchorage, and implementation of ships improved technologies, which will help towards greener shipping at a fast pace.”

WHAT SHIPPING IS DOING

To address the issues of environmental protection a panel of discussion was held, which was moderated by Mr. Surendra Rai along with Panelists namely Mr Ajith Kumar Sukumaran, Chief Surveyor to the Government of India, DG Shipping, Mr Vikrant Rai Deputy Director General of Shipping Technical, Mr. Indranath Bose, Advisor The Great Eastern Shipping Co. Ltd, Mr. Kristian Mogensen MAN-ES Energy Solution Denmark, Mrs. K R Anjana, GM Cochin Shipyard, and Mr. Nitin Borwankar Chief Manager Port Trust.

Surendra Rai began by saying,” In this forum, we have intended to bring forth what various sectors of the maritime industry are doing to bring on green shipping.”

Mr. Sukumaran threw light on the climate negotiations and the hypocrisy of climate change politics, saying, “If we see climate politics, India is 4% of world polluters, China 7% of world pollution, and the developing nations together including the UK, US, Canada, Russia, Japan, and EU countries constitute 34%, the maximum emissions today.

“Many developed countries have conveniently shifted the production units to China, increasing their emissions from 4% to 28%, while India has increased from 1.36- 4% over the years. Thus, the most ethical question today faced by the nations is who is the real polluter, Is it the producer or the country?

Mr. Indranath Bose, giving an overall view of India’s attempts, preparedness, and plans for green shipping said, “In this year’s environmental day three issues have been discussed -climate change, banning plastic little and bio-fouling. The reduction of GNG Emissions has two aspects: one being reduction through enhancing energy efficiency of ships, and, reduction through low and zero carbon fuels.

“Increasingly superior anti-fouling coatings are being developed, which ensures that the ship hulls remain free of fouling and bring major fuel savings. Various propulsion improvement devices and high-efficiency propellers are being used to save fuel.

“For energy efficiency, the vessels are switching over to LED lights. Fuel cells are used as power sources for marine applications for smaller vessels. Sharing Maritime India vision 2030, The Government of India announced to implement just-in-time arrival, which could help in a huge reduction in emissions from the shipping industry.”

Kristian Morgensen spotlighted on 2 stroke engines and service guidelines for engine operations, saying, “ Marine sector is responsible for 80-90% of the global transportation of goods around the world and also on the downside for around 3% of the global emissions of Co2. MAN-ES has around 50% of the main engines of the emission vessels, which is now focusing on shifting to decarbonization and alternative fuels and biofuels. We have a wide portfolio to meet and reduce fuel emissions. We have LNG upgraded engines which provide greenhouse gas reduction of about 22% -25%, also with Methanol we have a 5% fuel reduction. With the production of pre-methanol, we can have neutral fuels to reduce 50% greenhouse gases, which will be a great leap forward. We are looking forward to developing the Ammonia engine, which will get us to give a close to zero carbon fuel to the market.”

K R Anjana while giving intrinsic insights on battery-operated electric vessels, said, “We have been closely watching technology scenarios concerning green technologies. We have built and delivered two electric vessels for the Kochi water metro. We are constructing fully automated 23 electrical vessels, wherein the design is fully in-house. These will be India’s first water metro boats and the world’s largest fleet of fully electric vessels and will be giving seamless urban mobility solutions. These will be fast charged using solar power charging stations when fully operational. This technology will give impetus to the nation’s effort to reduce carbon emissions and carbon footprints. They will give approximately a reduction of 100,000 metric tons of CO2 emissions in this part of the world.”

Niteen Borwankar elaborated on the plans and targets for the ports and said, “JNP is a landlord port run by private operators and so there are various challenges in implementing various targets. JNP was given a target of renewable energy to reach 30% by 2025. We have already achieved 38% and estimate to go to 50% ahead of the target to achieve solar power at the ports by 2025. The challenge is how to use solar power to the optimum level to provide shore power to the vessels. So far there are only two ports that have distribution licenses. So, giving electricity to the ships involves some tariffs which still need to be resolved.”

Mr Vikrant Rai gave an outline of the initiatives taken by DG shipping toward Green shipping, said, “We were heavily involved in feasibility studies regarding the shore power supply with the JNP port.

A contract has been awarded to TATA consultancy which will enable to draw a framework to be followed by the ports for such a supply. It will deal with all regulatory, policy, and financial issues as a study that can be used as a template for other sports to follow. We have given permission to Indian ships to use biofuels, which will help our old ships to achieve CII targets, which are going to be imposed from Jan 2023. As part of IMO Green Voice 2015, we are trying to find greener water ferries for inland transport water systems. We are working with Mumbai port to develop a standard framework to establish a green shipping corridor by Feb 2025. Our targets are to achieve 5% fuel consumption by 2030 from alternate fuels or any other. We are forming a digitized system wherein all ships will be required to submit their information about the anchor type, port type, and underway type.”

Captain MP Bhasin interacted in an interesting Q & A session with the participants. Dr. Raut Panduranga DDG shipping presented Momentums virtually to the session chair Mr. Sukumaran and the session participants including ship owners, Engine makers, Shipyards and ports, DG shipping, and the Shipping corporation, who threw light on various issues of the shipping industry.

-Marex Media