Maersk and Lloyd's Register support that in order to reduce the emissions of shipping the search it must be concentrated on the fuel and not on the ship



If the employment as fuel of the liquified natural gas or of a naphta to the contained lowest low or of sulfur, or still the adoption of systems of washing of the smoke of drainage with the discouragement of the polluting substances, is currently the main options on hand of the companies of navigation in order to return the ships of their compatible fleets with the international norms on the emissions of the shipping, and in particular with the imposition of I use it of bunker to low sulfur tenor that will have effect from next 1° January, Danish group A.P. Møller-Mærsk, that he is world leader in the segment of the marine transport of the container, and the society of British classification Lloyd's Register (LR), consider that the solution in order considerably to reduce the emissions of the ships, until to annul them, consists in the search of new sustainable energetic sources. And this - second the two companies - involves that the shipowners will have in future to face increments of the operating costs deriving from the more expensive fuel purchase rather than to support the huge necessary expenses on account capital for the construction of ships green. The challenge, according to Maersk and Lloyd's Register, is of type OPEX rather than CAPEX.

Therefore, regarding the shipping, for Maersk and Lloyd's Register the challenge is not in sea, but rather to earth: "the technological changes in the ships - the operating director of Maersk has explained, Søren Toft - are smaller regarding the important innovative solutions and to the various fuel that must be found in order to produce and to distribute sustainable energetic sources on a global scale".

The specific study on this topic realized from the two companies evidences that the cleaned transition towards a shipping more at all will not be guided by the market, but is and will be instead necessary political initiatives. It is will have also to put into effect a groundbreaking review of the incentives in order to promote this change.

According to the outcomes of the study, but, also the shipowners will have to make their part investing - the council of Maersk and Lloyd's Register is this - in order to make sure that their fleet is flexible as for uses it of combustible different. "The additional cost in order to construct a ship with new tanks for storage of the fuel, with modified engines and systems of supplying of the fuel - it has found Katherine Palmer, LR responsible Sostenibilità - represents the absolutely minimal element of the total costs of the operation, as the ulterior expenses on account capital is subdivided for the duration of the ship, while, given the potential impact of the future prices of the fuel on the operating costs, the shipowners must invest in the flexibility, for example planning a ship that today can navigate with a type of fuel and that successively he can be adapted in order to navigate with an alternative fuel".

Alternative fuel that in future could be the alcohol, or the biometano or the ammonia. These in fact, second the study, are the fuel that could allow with the marine transport to reach the objective of emissions zero. The precise document that the projections of the costs of these three fuels are relatively similar, but is three options that show different challenges and opportunities. "It is too soon - it has specified Toft - in order to exclude any option completely. However we consider that these three constitute the base from which to leave. Therefore - it has announced the manager of the Maersk - we will dedicate 80% of our attention to this working hypothesis and we will reserve remaining 20% in order to estimate other options".

If alcohol, biometano and ammonia will be to the center of the searches of the Danish shipowning group and the society of British classification in order to obtain in mean-along term the effective solutions in order considerable to reduce the emissions of the ships, the two companies discard instead other currently which examined possibilities from some operating head physicians of the field, as I use it of batteries and cells to fuel. According to Maersk and Lloyd's Register, it is improbable that these, under the commercial profile, can constitute a solution within reach in order to supply energy for the propulsion of ships greens.