10/02/2022

Powerfuels Brief: Powerfuels in Maritime Transport – 10 February

Implications for ship owners and ports in the context of the IMO Greenhouse Gas Strategy and the FuelEU Maritime Regulation

As part of our ‘Powerfuels Brief’ series, we hosted a digital event on the role of Powerfuels in Martime Transport in the coming decades within the context existing regulation and targets. Powerfuels are the most viable option to defossilise maritime transport within this century. However, for the shipping industry uncertainty remains about what the best fuel options are, and what effects the FuelEU Maritime Regulation and the International Maritime Organisation’s (IMO) GHG strategy can have on shipping companies and ports.

Based on insights from the Alliance's factsheet on this topic, we discussed the advantages and disadvantages of different alternative shipping fuels and what impact policy measures have on ship owners and ports with expert guest speakers on 10 February 2022. Please find a detailed event report and the speakers` presentations below.

Powerfuels in Maritime Transport | Implications for ship owners and ports in the context of the IMO Greenhouse Gas Strategy and the FuelEU Maritime Regulation

Date: Thursday, February 10, 2022
10:00 am – 11:30 am CET

Maritime transport is the backbone of global trade, accounting for more than 80% of goods transported worldwide. Even though specific CO2 emissions per tonne-kilometre are low compared to other modes of transport and the carbon intensity of maritime transport has improved significantly since 2008, it still caused 2.89% of total anthropogenic emissions in 2018. Several policy actions are underway to address these emissions. Through its Greenhouse Gas Strategy, the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) has taken steps to raise GHG reduction ambitions, which however are not aligned with the EU goal of reaching net-zero GHG emissions by 2050. The European Commission has recently published its draft FuelEU Maritime regulation aimed at decarbonizing maritime transport while strongly supporting the uptake of alternative fuels. Powerfuels – green hydrogen as well as gaseous and liquid fuels from power-to-X processes using renewable electricity – will play a central role to defossilise the shipping fuel mix. However, each of the alternative fuel options has advantages and disadvantages. To determine the winners, factors such as availability, infrastructure and storage, technological maturity, energy density, price and environmental impact of the fuels must be taken into account.

Thanks to the excellent speakers for their contributions:

•   Ricardo Batista, Policy Officer, Waterborne Transport, Directorate General for Mobility & Transport (DG MOVE), European Commission
•   Cees Boon, Senior Safety Advisor Harbour Master Policy Department, Port of Rotterdam
•   Dr. Tue Johannessen, Head of Maritime Application and Viability, Mærsk Mc-Kinney Møller Center for Zero Carbon Shipping
•   Hannes Salomon, Expert Mobility, German Energy Agency

The event was moderated by Stefan Siegemund, Director for Sustainable Mobility at the German Energy Agency.