Podcast: Who’s going to foot the bill to decarbonise shipping?

As shipping faces pressure to tackle its greenhouse gas emissions, will it be shipowners, charterers or other stakeholders who are going to pay the cost of going green?

For an answer, the Green Seas podcast brings you to a discussion at the recent TradeWinds Shipowners Forum Singapore.

TradeWinds editor-in-chief Julian Bray posed the question on a panel with NYK Line executive officer Masahiro Takahashi, Mitsui OSK Lines senior executive officer Nobuo Shiotsu, Global Centre for Maritime Decarbonisation chief technology officer Sanjay Kuttan, Sing Fuels managing director for bunkers Sonnich Thomsen and Fortescue Future Industries global head of shipping Andrew Hoare.

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Hoare, who said companies like his are footing the bill at first with parent Fortescue Metals Group looking at $6.2bn in decarbonisation costs, pointed to a discussion earlier in the event over whether consumers might have to ultimately foot the bill in the container shipping space.

Industrial shipping like dry bulk may not be able to pass such costs down as easily, but he said ultimately end users have to pay, even if it’s through taxes. But he said countries in North America and Europe are subsidising fossil fuels as much as they’re subsidising renewables.

“I’m actually quite optimistic because if people can get their head around the fact that there’s so much money being subsidised, but it’s actually currently subsidising fossil fuels and prolonging their life, that is the money we need to be targeting and wheeling it towards subsidising and putting money into the renewable sector,” he said.

Takahashi said that shipowners like NYK Line will ultimately have to pass down costs to customers.

“We are the infrastructure of the global economy,” he said.

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