Ship and Harbour - joint action for a better eco-balance

Even though they lead to reduced emissions, they cause higher costs and further investments for the maritime industry. These regulations show how complex the interactions are between ship and harbour, in other words sea and land. At the first gmec – global maritime environmental congress, which takes place 7th and 8th September 2010 on the occasion of SMM at Congress Center Hamburg, renowned industry experts will discuss the ecological effects of shipping on port cities, coastal regions, local and regional areas. These experts include, among others, M Emanuele Grimaldi, CEO of the Italian shipowners Grimaldi Group, and Eddy Bruyninckx, Managing Director of Antwerp Port Authority.
In ports and coastal regions, emissions have major implications for the people who live, work and take holidays there. Since January 2010 a sulphur limit of 0.1 percent is prescribed for ships that spend more than two hours docked in a European port. The EU directive has thus brought about a 70 percent reduction in particle emissions at EU ports. Dr Matthias Ruete, the European Commission’s General Director for Mobility and Transport, will give his view on this topic at gmec.
The sulphur regulations by the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) determine a limiting value of one percent for the North Sea and the Baltic as of 1 July 2010. Both seas have been given special status by the IMO as ‘Sulphur Emission Control Areas’ (SECAs). From 2015 these limiting values will be lowered once more – the use of marine diesel with just 0.1 percent sulphur content will then become mandatory. On other European shipping routes – the Irish Sea, the Mediterranean, and the Black Sea – the IMO is maintaining the globally applicable limiting values for sulphur content, currently 4.5 percent. In 2012 this value will be reduced to just 3.5 percent.
This kind of imbalance is hardly compatible with the idea of a common European market. National economies like those of Finland and Sweden, for example, are one-sidedly penalised with significantly higher transport costs, with serious implications for competitiveness.
Sulphur limits for the North Sea and the Baltic put ‘motorways of the sea’ at risk
The sulphur requirements by IMO for SECAs will inevitably lead to an increase in freight costs. Based on data supplied in a study commissioned by ECSA and published just recently, MGO obligations in the shipping routes of the North Sea and the Baltic may be expected to increase costs by as much as 40 percent. There are concerns that this could result in the return of freight shipments to the roads, as a more economical means of transport. While the study admits that the pollution caused by ships would indeed be reduced, the increase in freight transport on the roads would cancel out the positive effect altogether and could even lead to the cancellation of some regular line services. The consequence would be an even higher level of pollution than in the past, as the benefits of shipping as a means of bulk transport would no longer come into play. A contradiction, since for some time politicians have been promoting the transfer of surface transport operations to the sea, for ecological reasons. As early as 2001, the European Commission’s White Book on Transport recommended setting up ‘motorways of the sea’. With EU support, some shipping companies have intensified their short-distance marine operations in recent years. In 2005, for example, the Italian Grimaldi Group founded Malta Motorways of the Sea Ltd. for transport operations between Spain, Italy, Tunisia, and Libya. Emanuele Grimaldi, CEO of the Grimaldi Shipping Group and President of Malta Motorways of the Sea, is Chairman of gmec and will discuss the consequences of the regulations for short sea transport.
Port Authorities and Terminal Operators take responsibility
Also on land numerous measures are being taken to contribute to an improvement of the maritime environmental balance. Thus, a lot of port authorities consider facilities for supplying ships with power from the land. “Power out of the plug should reduce the use of auxiliary diesel considerably. But in order to utilize the power supply from land, ships first need to be converted, and the necessary infrastructure on land has to be created. One criticism that has been raised is that sulphur emissions will not really be reduced – they will only be shifted from the port to the hinterland where power stations generate the electricity. Eddy Bruyninckx, Managing Director of the Antwerp Port Authority, will discuss the potential benefits and challenges of a land-based power supply at gmec 2010. In the port of Antwerp, land-based power supply has been in use since 2009.
The use of liquid natural gas (LNG) has also recently come to be allowed in the shipping industry. Although LNG is significantly better for the environment – sulphur dioxide emissions are reduced by 100 percent, nitric oxide emissions by up to 70 percent and carbon dioxide by up to 25 percent – here, too, there are many problems that need to be overcome. Not only will ships need to be based on new technology, a new form of supply logistics and new infrastructure will also have to be created at the ports.
In the meantime, port terminals make increasing use of energy-efficient goods-handling technology. At gmec, Christian Maass, State Councillor for Urban Development and the
Environment of the City of Hamburg, will speak about sustainable harbour technologies. Alfons Guinier, Secretary General of the European Community Shipowners’ Associations ECSA, is also “on board“ the forum of international experts and will speak on the topic of waste management in shipping as well as other issues.
gmec 2010 – the first global maritime environmental congress
The global maritime environmental congress (gmec) is the first inter-industry, international conference on “maritime environmental protection” on top executive level. The first global maritime environmental congress will be held in Hamburg on 7 and 8 September 2010, on the occasion of SMM, the world’s leading shipbuilding trade fair (7 to 10 September). gmec provides a platform for representatives of IMO (International Maritime Organization), the European Commission, governments, port industries, shipping and the shipbuilding industry to analyse the status quo of maritime environmental protection and discuss targets, which may determine the course for the environmental future of the global maritime industry. The congress, like the trade fair SMM itself, will be held under patronage of Chancellor Angela Merkel, and will in future take place every two years in Hamburg.