Shipping firms call for speed limits to cut emissions

The International Maritime Organisation (IMO) should set maximum speed limits to reduce shipping sector emissions, the chief executives of more than 100 maritime firms said today.

The UN agency should set maximum annual average speeds for container ships, and maximum absolute speeds for the remaining ship types, the executives said in an open letter to the IMO. This would help the shipping sector make its "appropriate contribution" to addressing climate change.

The IMO agreed in April last year to halve global maritime greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 2050, compared with 2008 levels, and for the sector's emissions to peak "as soon as possible". But the agency has yet to agree specific measures to deliver this goal.

IMO delegations will put forward emission reduction proposals at a meeting of the agency's environment committee next week. All of the proposals imply speed reductions, according to environmental consultancy CE Delft.

The committee should agree on speed limits at next week's meeting, and implement them "as soon as possible", the executives said today.

Global shipping speeds decreased following the 2008 economic crisis, when shipowners started "slow steaming" — lowering the speed of their vessels — in response to high fuel prices and a drop in global trade. This had the effect of cutting emissions by reducing vessels' fuel consumption. GHG emissions from global maritime transport decreased by 13pc from 2007-12, largely as a result of slow steaming, IMO data show.

But recent data suggest ship speeds are rising again, the maritime executives said today.

"Should this trend continue, any GHG gains from slow steaming over recent years will disappear," they said.

Slow steaming is the "only option" if the sector wants its emissions to peak as soon as possible, non-governmental organisation (NGO) Transport and Environment (T&E) shipping manager Faig Abbasov said. The only other way to deliver a short-term cut in maritime emissions would be to reduce global trade, he said.

In the long term, vessels will need to switch to alternative fuels or electrify, in order to fully decarbonise the sector, Abbasov said. T&E was one of seven NGOs to sign the letter.

A total of 107 chief executives signed the letter, including the heads of shipowners Euronav, Dynagas and French shipping transport and services group Louis Dreyfus.

Shipping was responsible for 2.5pc of global emissions in 2012, but the sector's emissions could rise by as much as 250pc by 2050 as demand for maritime transport grows, IMO data show