What decisions has MEPC 74 made about carbon emission reduction and scrubbers?

Last week, the 74th Session of the IMO Maritime Environmental Protection Committee (MEPC 74) was held in London. The delegates discussed the hot topics such as the implementation of the initial strategy for reducing greenhouse gas emissions and the scrubber regulations. The one-week meeting has come to an end, what progress has MEPC 74 made and what decisions have been made to address the focus of the industry?

Prior to this meeting, IMO member states have proposed 15 measures on how to implement the initial strategy for reducing greenhouse gas emissions, including proposals for slow down sailing, enhanced energy efficiency requirements for ship design, and optimization of ship operational efficiency.

This MEPC meeting did not reach a clear conclusion what measures should be taken to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the short term, but decided to leave this issue to the next session for further discussion.

Despite this, the Commission's representatives agreed to hold two pre-conferences prior to MEPC 75, scheduled for November 2019 and the week before MEPC 75 (Spring 2020). The two sessions will focus on ship energy efficiency, reduction of methane slip and VOC emissions, and alternative energy, low carbon and zero carbon fuels.

Despite the failure to make a decision, MEPC 74 addressed a key procedural issue related to whether emissions reduction measures could be implemented. The committee agreed to open an impact assessment process for each proposal for abatement measures, in which the impact and effectiveness of the measures will be assessed. This also means that the 15 proposals previously proposed are still under consideration. In addition, MEPC 74 responded to key proposals that were of general interest to everyone.

Ship speed limit proposal

Ship speed limit is the most controversial topic before the meeting. France, Greece and other countries and more than 110 shipping companies have submitted applications to IMO, calling for a slowdown. However, the proposal has also been opposed by Japan, Denmark and other countries and many container shipping companies.

Supporters believe that:

Ship speed limit can effectively reduce greenhouse gas emissions from the shipping industry. Recently, the European Union released a research report. The results show that in the existing policy measures for the initial strategy of IMO greenhouse gas emission reduction, reducing the speed of the ship is the best effective emission reduction measure - If the speed is 20% lower than the Average speed in 2012, carbon dioxide emissions will be reduced by 24% - 34% in 2030.

Since the financial crisis of 2008, shipping companies have generally begun to slow down and see it as a way to reduce costs and create revenue. And it turns out that the ship's speed limit does cause a significant drop in greenhouse gas emissions. Clarkson data shows that in the past 10 years, the average speed of all ship types has dropped by nearly 21%, and fuel consumption and carbon dioxide emissions have been reduced by 18%.

Opponents believe that:

At the same time, the volume of seaborne trade increased by 37%. If the speed is further reduced, the cost of freight transportation will be even higher, and the international supply chain will be paralyzed. Most of the support for speed limit proposals are bulk carriers and tanker operators, and container shipping companies generally hold objections. The container supply chain is time-sensitive, and reducing the speed will damage the shipping company's customer service. In order to compensate for the losses caused by long sailing times and low voyage frequencies, shipping companies have to increase the number of ships. As a result, the carbon footprint of individual ships has indeed decreased, but overall carbon emissions will rise.

The consulting firm SeaIntelligence also pointed out that the reduced capacity caused by slow sailing will generate more ship orders in the short term. These orders are mostly traditional ship types, which will delay the industry's investment in new ship types using clean fuel. Ships have a life span of 20-25 years, and it is impossible for the industry to spend the same amount of money twice, either to develop sustainable ships or to build more conventional ships to meet artificial speed limits.

This MEPC meeting did not make a decision on whether to impose a mandatory speed limit. It is foreseeable that this issue will lead to more debate in the future.

Energy efficiency proposal for ship design

MEPC 74 decided to strengthen the design energy efficiency requirements for new ships and increase the environmental friendliness of the ships, involving seven types of ship types such as container ships, LPG carriers and LNG carriers. This is a long-term emission reduction measure, with the replacement of old ships with new ones. Ships, carbon dioxide emission reduction effects will also increase year by year. The EEDI (Energy Efficiency Design Index) requirements for these new vessels will increase from 30% to 40%, and the implementation year will be advanced from 2025 to 2022.

According to the analysis of the International Clean Transportation Committee, this measure can reduce the CO2 emissions from 2022-2050 by 750 million tons, equivalent to 2% of the global shipping industry's carbon dioxide emissions or the entire year of 2015. IMO is also considering further strengthening the energy efficiency requirements of new ships after 2025 and implementing energy efficiency requirements for ships in operation after the next MEPC meeting.

Coordinated scrubber regulations

The scrubber problem is also one of the big things discussed by MEPC 74. Earlier this year, the EU had proposed collecting more data on scrubber wastewater and developing uniformed scrubber regulations on a global scale. The proposal was supported by IMO member states at this meeting and will be submitted to the 7th meeting of the IMO Pollution Prevention and Emergency Subcommittee (PPR7) for further processing. Discussions on this matter will reach a conclusion in 2021. The next PPR meeting is destined to be challenging. The sub-committee must concretize the harmonized regulations, and the proposals of national representatives and institutions will also determine the fate of the washing tower.

In addition, MEPC 74 also conducted an evaluation review of IMO's scrubber installation and use guidelines, giving guidance to shipowners on how to respond when the scrubber fails and there is only high sulfur fuel on board. The revision of the guide will be completed next year.