At International Seaways, we are committed to being a decarbonisation leader in the shipping industry. We are supportive of the International Maritime Organization in setting standards for all ships in the reduction of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. We encourage the IMO to act quickly on global regulations so that we can maintain a level playing field.
This article is one of more than three dozen contributions from shipping industry stakeholders about their outlook for decarbonisation efforts in the year ahead. We asked shipowners, managers, financial professionals, technology providers and more about their own efforts to address greenhouse gas emissions in 2022 and what they hope to happen in the industry this year.
Our ‘Get to Green’ initiatives began in 2019 and continuously evolve as we monitor new regulations and guidelines and evaluate the impact of our fleet on the environment. We have categorised our initiatives into the following: reducing resource consumption, fleet improvements and sustainable financing.
Regardless of the regulatory framework, it is incumbent on us to reduce our carbon footprint by optimising our current operations. We have initiatives and investments on the existing ships so the vessels can do the best they can every day. We work closely with our commercial managers to optimise every voyage — managing ordered speeds, weather routing, adjusting arrivals and a variety of other performance measures. We look at the entire fleet to make sure that we are maximising our transport utilisation so that all of the ships are working as effectively as possible.
The year ahead is focused on two efforts. First, our concentration is our complete fleet. As part of the integration process of our recent merger with Diamond S Shipping, we are combining our optimisation models. Our goal with this effort is to make our performance transparent and available to all stakeholders, internal and external. In the background, we are preparing technically and commercially for implementation of the 2023 Energy Efficiency Existing Ship Index and Carbon Intensity Indicator regulations. Underlying all of this is the drive to make every ship and every voyage the best it can be from a GHG standpoint.
Second, we focus on the construction of our fleet of the future — three dual-fuel VLCCs on long-term charter to our trusted partner Shell. The first of these ships will deliver in the beginning of 2023. Using natural gas as a fuel and being highly efficient, these vessels will substantially reduce our carbon contributions while the industry waits for the designs and infrastructure that will support the next generation of fuels.
As we look into 2022 and beyond, we welcome more opportunities to partner with our stakeholders linking our efforts to sustainability. We are proud to be the first New York Stock Exchange-listed shipowner to implement sustainability-linked requirements in our lender credit facility. We take our ownership and accountability to decarbonisation as a complement to our long-term partners’ commitment to the environment. We look forward to this journey together.
