GSCC says owners not getting enough support on environmental regs

They say owners have been mainly left to their own devices when it comes to dealing with the problems they face to comply with the IMO 2020 sulphur cap, GHG emission reductions and building cost-effective ships.

GSCC chairman, Haralambos J Falalios, in his introduction to the GSCC’s 2019 – 2020 annual report, that whilst initially there may have been some bottlenecks regarding the supply of compliant bunker fuel “this has calmed down and now most ports have sufficient quantities of low sulphur fuels in order to meet fleet requirements”.

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However, Fafalios said “technical problems have multiplied as the composition of this new fuel is not the same globally” and a vessel's purification systems “as well as the main engines themselves are incurring much more maintenance and a fair amount of damage.

“These main engine damages have compromised vessel safety. Imo must be made aware of this. We must still get to the point of having a common composition to this fuel,” said Fafalios.

He said 2050 GHG reduction targets, “is a project that requires an enormous amount of work, investigation and experimentation.

“Some non-IMO legislators seem to want to progress in an unseemly and hasty manner often based on half-baked solution,” said Fafalios.

He continued: “The shipping industry itself, with little or no help from technology providers such as engine manufacturers, shipbuilders and energy suppliers is valiantly trying to come forward with viable short, medium and long-term solutions.” He said: “It must be stressed this must be carried out through the IMO only and not through other less experienced institutions.”