APL urges greener operations to cut costs and reduce emissions

Shaj Thayil, vice president, technical services & ship management, APL, said that while the major driver of going green is to lower fuel costs, the wider benefit of reducing harmful emissions should not be forgotten.

“World trade expansion between 1999 to 2012 led to about 65% increase in global seaborne trade, and during this period there is a significant increase in shipping fuel consumption,” Thayil told attendees at the second Green Technologies Seminar held in Singapore on Tuesday.

“Shipping consumes 8% of the world's fuel oil and emits about 3% of the world's carbon dioxide (CO2),” he told the seminar, which is jointly organised by ClassNK and Seatrade and moderated by Seatrade Global editor Marcus Hand. Thayil added that shipping now burns about 350m tonnes of bunker fuel a year, almost doubled of what was being consumed 20 years ago.

Under IMO's emissions reduction programmes, the EEDI (energy efficiency design index) and SEEMP (ship energy efficiency management plan), a target has been set to reduce CO2 emissions by 1bn tonnes a year by 2050, Thayil pointed out.

Further benefits for the global shipping industry to comply with EEDI and SEEMP include a 1.7% reduction in total climate change impact, $88bn a year of climate change costs avoided and fuel costs savings per year of $90-310bn, all by 2050.

In the nearer term, APL's 2015 goal is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions associated with cargo transportation and handling to 30% below 2009 emissions levels, Thayil said.

“By 2015, we (APL's fleet) aim to produce only 130 grams of CO2 for every teu of cargo transported per nautical mile,” he said.

Meanwhile, APL will take delivery of a series of ten 14,000 teu containerships, which the company claims them to be the most environmentally friendly boxships of today.

The APL Temasek, launched in May this year, is expected to reap some 16% in bunker fuel savings on speeds of 15-18 knots. The vessel's fuel efficiency measured by the EEDI is certified to be 33% better than guidelines set by the IMO.

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