Armateurs de France is cheering French President Emmanuel Macron's support for slow-steaming to cut carbon emissions.
The French shipowners group said slow-steaming for tankers, bulkers and gas carriers was the fastest, most obvious and easiest way to reduce the environmental impact of shipping.
"Speed reduction is a simple, cost-effective, immediately operational and a common sense solution for reducing harmful emissions from ships," said Philippe Louis-Dreyfus, chairman of Louis Dreyfus Armateurs.
" [W]e must now convince our foreign counterparts of the merits of this measure, which can only be considered at a worldwide level to be applicable."
Last week, Macron said he would "engage with shipping companies to reduce the speed of merchant ships" at the G7 meeting earlier this week in Biarritz in France's southwest.
"It is one of the most effective ways to reduce greenhouse gas emissions globally, and this measure would be a real change," he said.
With shipping's effect on the environment taking centre stage ahead of the IMO 2002 sulphur emissions cap and the IMO 2050 decarbonisation push, slow steaming has been floated as a controversial solution.
France, Greece, dozens of shipowners and a handful of environmental groups support the measure, but groups like the UK Chamber of Shipping say there is no evidence speed limits would cut emissions.
Further, the chamber said it would penalise companies for developing and implementing cleaner alternatives to traditional bunker fuels. It could also put more cargo on roads or rails, both of which are less environmentally-friendly than shipping.
The IMO has considered slow steaming as an option, but has been slow in taking it up.
In April, Louis-Dreyfus told TradeWinds he met with Macron and that Macron was on board with his slow steaming proposal, which would exempt ferries, short-sea vessels and boxships.
"I have been fighting for this for two years," Louis-Dreyfus said in April.
“I don’t think it will make a bit of difference if a steel company gets its cargo on a Thursday morning or a Tuesday evening. I’m not a technician, not an engineer, just a common-sense person.”
