According to EU guidelines, shipping should become climate neutral by 2050. The Bremen Institute for Shipping Economics and Logistics considers this to be unrealistic. The focus must move away from LNG and towards green fuels.
The target is clear: shipping traffic should become climate neutral by 2050. This is what the European Union (EU) wants with its “Green Deal”, but this is also what the World Shipping Organization IMO wants, which agreed on correspondingly stricter climate protection requirements last summer.
Climate target can hardly be achieved
Reducing greenhouse gas emissions in shipping to zero by 2050 – however, the Bremen Institute for Shipping Economics and Logistics (ISL) considers this goal to be unrealistic. “I think that this is hardly achievable from today’s perspective,” said Burkhard Lemper, ISL managing director and professor at Bremen University of Applied Sciences.
“There are still very few units in the world fleet and also in the order book that could use alternative fuels, and at least the newly built ships that are currently being built will most likely still be in service in 2050.”
Is the focus on LNG a misguided approach?
According to the Bremen Institute, most ships that do not use heavy oil or diesel are currently focusing on liquid natural gas. But LNG is also a fossil fuel that can have a harmful impact on the climate. “Much more needs to be invested in ships with alternative drives, not in LNG,” demanded the expert in the run-up to the 6th Bremen Congress for Sustainability in Shipping.
At the two-day conference starting today, the industry will discuss, among other things, alternative fuels. Shipping causes three percent of CO2 emissions Shipping has traditionally been and is an important factor in Europe’s economic development. Today, the European Union (EU) is the largest exporter in terms of volume and the second largest importer of goods internationally.
Worldwide, 90 percent of goods trade is carried out by ship. The often huge container ships mostly run on heavy oil or marine diesel and some also run on liquid natural gas LNG. These are all fossil energy sources, the use of which emits CO2. This means that around three percent of global CO2 emissions are caused by international shipping.
Expert relies on e-fuels instead of hydrogen
But the investments required to convert to alternative drives are so high that most shipping companies cannot afford it without public support, explained ISL expert Lemper. There is also a lack of capacity for the production of green fuels. Politicians must first create the financial and regulatory framework.
The head of the institute expects a mix of different green fuels such as ammonia, methanol and other e-fuels in the long term; the direct use of hydrogen in ship propulsion is unlikely.
By the way: Individual shipping companies and companies have set their own climate targets that are more ambitious than the IMO targets. For example, the important Danish container shipping company Maersk and the cruise shipping company Aida Cruises want to be climate-neutral by 2040, and the German Hapag-Lloyd wants to be climate-neutral by 2045.
Ports should also become climate neutral
But not only the ships should become more climate-neutral, but also the ports: The EU is calling for shore power supply for important ports by 2030. But can this actually make a contribution to the climate? The ISL managing director is skeptical. To achieve this, the ships’ own electricity produced by diesel generators would have to be replaced by solar or wind energy, for example.
“As long as we have to produce the additional supply of shore power for ships with coal or gas power plants due to a lack of such renewable electricity, we have achieved nothing for the climate,” said Lemper.
Since neither the required renewable electricity nor sufficient quantities of green fuels will be available in the foreseeable future, the focus in the medium term must be on saving fuel, demanded Lemper. This could be achieved, for example, through slower driving, hydrodynamic optimization and wind support. It is also important to avoid air pollutants in the port area as much as possible.