As the shipping industry gears up for the 2050 decarbonisation target, panellists at SMM in Hamburg were asked whether the sector was driving the maritime transition, or merely walking very slowly towards it.
International Maritime Organization secretary general Arsenio Dominguez said: “It’s not a slow transition, we are actually driving it, but it will take time. We all know that.
“We are tackling all the concerns and challenges that are out there.
“If I take it from the perspective of the IMO, not all member states are at the same level of implementing the decisions that we make, but they all share the same objective of decarbonising the industry,” he added.
MAN Energy Solutions chief executive Dr Uwe Lauber added: “Yes, we are driving the transition but looking at the existing fleet, this is the biggest problem which we are facing. There are 35,000 vessels in operation and we have to help them!”
While the 2050 decarbonisation target sounds a long way away, for the maritime industry “it feels like tomorrow”, Lauber said.
“The technology to build a new net-zero ship tomorrow, that’s there. But what are we going to do with the existing fleet. This is the biggest concern,” Lauber added.
Hapag-Lloyd managing director of fleet Captain Silke Lehmkoester agreed that 2050 is “just around the corner” with a lot still to do to achieve these goals.
“But we have to achieve them because there is no plan B, or planet B,” she asserted.
Lehmkoester added: “If you look at the order books on new buildings, they are full, to fullest. But if we would like to order a container vessel, at the moment, we are looking at years maybe 2030.”
She said Hapag-Lloyd was doing a lot of retrofitting but said that the industry’s ambitions were “extremely high” and not just tackling the low-hanging fruits, such as a new propeller.
“We are also looking into retrofitting towards methanol. We are really doing the big packages, the expensive ones, to keep our assets alive, so that we can stay a little longer, but also having them transition into a greener vessel, maybe not net zero, but at least greener,” she added.
Dominguez also outlined how the use of AI taps into the process of decarbonisation, indicating that there are still opportunities to use it and “actually support the seafarers, but not replace them.”.
