The
barriers and incentives relating to the uptake of alternative fuels in
the shipping industry were in the spotlight at a roundtable meeting of
IMO’s Global Industry
Alliance to Support Low Carbon Shipping (GIA) at IMO Headquarters, London (28 February).
Experts
from across the maritime industry were brought together to discuss
successful incentives in other transport sectors and how they might be
applied to shipping
and ports.
The group discussed economic, technological and institutional barriers that are hindering greater market penetration of cleaner fuels. These include
capital and operating costs, uncertainty over life-cycle emissions, lack of operational experience in the use of new fuels, onboard fuel storage, availability of fueling infrastructure as
well as legal or regulatory barriers.
Possible
incentive schemes for the maritime sector, as well as potential
challenges in their application, were considered at the roundtable.
Examples of such schemes
were given, including an incentivization scheme in the United Kingdom to
promote the uptake of renewables as well as lessons learned from the Norwegian NOx
Fund.
Participants
deliberated how ship owners could be incentivized to use alternative
fuels, as well as incentives for alternative fuel supply and
infrastructure development.
The group collated lessons learned and key principles that could be
considered for any future incentive schemes for the maritime sector.
The work undertaken at the roundtable specifically contributes to one of the short-term measures defined in IMO’s Initial GHG Strategy,
on “incentives for first movers to develop and take up new
technologies”. The Strategy recognizes that technological innovation and
the global introduction of alternative fuels and/or energy sources for
international shipping will be integral to achieving zero-carbon
shipping.