Norwegian Shipping and climate challenges

Terje C. Gloersen, Norwegian Ship Owners Association - www.heyerdahlaward.com

Generally shipping is a very energy efficient transport mode in terms of CO2-emission per unit of transport work. This is partly due to the nature of sea transportation with its economy of scale, but also due to the continuous efforts over decades of years to improve the overall fuel efficiency by developing more efficient engines, propulsion systems and ship hulls.

While there are some uncertainties as to the world-wide consumption of marine bunker, both for domestic and international shipping, a study commissioned by International Maritime Organization (IMO) published in March 2000 estimated that shipping accounts for 1.8% of the world total CO2 emissions in 1996.

Nevertheless, shipping also has to address the climate challenge, and since the GHG emissions from international shipping can not be controlled under the Kyoto-protocol, it has been agreed that IMO will deal with this challenge. This process was actually initiated prior to the adoption of the Kyoto-protocol. So far IMO has, in addition to initiating the above study, adopted an Assembly Resolution, setting out the policies and practices related to the reduction of GHG emissions from ships and further agreed on "Interim Guidelines for Voluntary Ship CO2 Emission Indexing for use in Trials".

The Norwegian Shipowners' Association has strongly supported the IMO process in close co-operation with Norwegian authorities, including financial support to several studies as basis for the IMO progress.

While this is key to the long-term solution of the climate challenge for international shipping, NSA and Norwegian Shipping have also a very proactive environmental R&D programme and activities, including projects that contribute to reduced GHG-emissions.

One example is the worlds first supply ship, Viking Energy of Eidesvik AS, being designed to operate on gas, when available, in addition to conventional fuel. While the need to reduce NOx-emissions in the offshore industry through a trading system was the driving mechanism for this, the use of gas has also effectively reduced the CO2-emissions by 21% based on the actual operating profile., In addition to this it has lead to a reduction of NOx-emissions by approximately 90% and SOx-emissions to virtually zero. This is obtained in combination with a new hull design by the Norwegian company Vik-Sandvik giving lower resistance and better propulsion characteristics in heavy sea.

VOC-emissions, which include the GHG methane, need also to be controlled, and to achieve this in a most cost-effective manner, the Norwegian shipping company Knutsen OAS Shipping AS, operating the largest fleet of purpose-built shuttle tankers in the world has developed the KVOC-system. This system reduces VOC-emissions during loading and transport of VOCcontaining cargoes by avoiding underpressure during loading, thereby suppressing the flashing during loading, and stabilising the VOC in the liquid cargo. A prototype system was installed on a shuttle tanker in 2002 and further improved systems have been installed on four additional shuttle tankers. The KVOC-system also has enormous potential of reducing VOC-emissions from crude oil tankers, where it is estimated that up to 0,25% of the cargo evaporates during the loaded voyage.

Since the early 1990's, NSA has had environmental R&D programmes funding a wide range of projects to develop more environmental friendly shipping, including more energy efficient ships and the use of alternative fuels and engine systems. In this context we will specifically mention our involvement in the development of fuel cell systems for shipboard application.

From 2002 to 2004, NSA was project co-ordinator for a major EUproject, FC-ship, with the purpose of studying the technical and economical potential of using fuel cells both for propulsion and auxiliary machinery. In the continuation of this, we presently support a major industry project aiming at installing fuel cells on two ships, one hybrid engine on an offshore service vessel and one auxiliary engine on a car carrier, to gain more experience of such engines.

There are many examples of proactive Norwegian shipping companies pursuing ambitious environmental policies. In March this year, Wilh. Wilhelmsen together with their Swedish partner Wallenius in the joint operating car carrier company Wallenius Wilhelmsen, presented their vision of the future "zero emission" ship, E/S Orcelle, displaying what an environmentally-friendly car and Ro-Ro carrier might look like in 2025. It will produce no emissions into either the air or sea and will use renewable energy sources, including the sun, wind and waves, as well as fuel cell technology.

For more information : mailbox@heyerdahlaward.com