However, what is clear is there is the shipowner has no way round the regulations, the process is going to cost a great deal of money, sound training of seagoing and ashore staff is vital, as is planning prior to installation of equipment on board. What is less certain is the real future of LNG as fuel and how efficient and cost effective new innovative equipment is.
These are conclusions to emerge from the Greener Shipping Summit 2014 held in Athens on 11 November. Stavros Hatzigrigoris, md of the Angelicoussis Group’s gas arm, Maran Gas Maritime, and chairman of the influential Greek Maritime Technical Managers Association (MarTecMA), said technological improvements are needed but "cannot be applied in shipping in big steps". He stressed the "education and the training of the people on board and ashore will take time in order to catch up" while shipyards "are not willing to change their designs during a period in which the newbuilding market is booming".
"Technology in shipping should walk hand-in-hand with redundancy and reliability. Shipping assets are operated thousands of miles away from head office and are difficult to control in the same way as land installations are controlled," he said. "There is a need for IMO, our professional organisations and individual private companies to get more involved in the setting of the international environment related with shipping.
"Lobbying the political establishment is getting more critical than ever. Monopolising the international transport by certain countries, will not help," he contended. "Formulation of synergies and joint development projects is essential. The handling of shipping issues by professionals is needed, and the bar should be set very high for newcomers."
On the escalating impact of environmental regulations, Panos Zachariadis, technical director of Atlantic Bulk Carriers Management, noted there is pressure on Imo to “act fast” and this means taking decisions before technology is able to prove itself and “without enough scientific justification”. Further there is “over simplification of problems and solutions”. Zachariadis, a member of several Imo working committees ans spends a great deal of time in London, said each issue should be dealt with "individually”, otherwise conflicting regulations emerge with major consequences.
New fuels, ship operations and the environment, including the presentation of new projects, ship design and operational efficiency and ballast water treatment were discussed.
Ballast water treatment (BWT) on the eve of ratification caused much discussions, indeed lively debate. The conclusion? There is confusion, even among the manufacturers of the BWT systems.
Five leading manufacturers, all with a different approach, agreed they were not certain what will be the final outcome of ratification. But, they say “no matter how the rules will develop” they will be able to “meet them by tuning existing systems”.
Delegates were concerned when ratification comes there will be bottlenecks on the manufacturing side, the class plan approval side and the ability of shipyards to meet installation deadlines.
Bernt Olav Bauer-Nilsen of Knutsen Technology, noted shipyards will have no problems “as the installation takes place during a planned drydocking”. But he warned BWT installation “needs planning, planning and more planning”. Tor Atle Eiken of OceanSaver agreed and said “a riding crew should be placed onboard to get everything in order” while Hyung-Ho Lim of NK Co Ltd commented even when this is done installation could take 18 to 20 days.
Zachariadis pointed out “ocean currents move thousands of trillions of tons of sea water yearly, also transporting living species worldwide, which stay and multiply where conditions are favorable” before making some acceptable scientific calculations which showed ballast water carried by tankers and bulkers annually is a “million times less than sea currents”.
“The cost of fitting ballast water management systems is exorbitant. The end result may be minimal,” said Zachariadis.
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