Wallenius Wilhelmsen concerned over possible operational efficiency regulations

Noting that fuel costs account for anything from 30% - 60% of operational costs Roger Stevens, vice president, global head of environment for WWL said: “When you are buying your own fuel there is a very clear focus to reduce (consumption), and that cost is going to keep getting bigger.”

Speaking a press event ahead of Nor-Shipping 2015 he noted that following the 0.1% ECA zone sulphur limits at the start of the this year, the global cap of 1% could follow in as little as five years, continuing to push up fuel costs.

“The case for fuel efficiency, the importance of it to shipowners is astronomical, the more than you can do with one tonne the better,” he stated.

“The good news is that fuel efficiency is a two for one deal – reduced emissions with reduced cost so from a business perspective this makes an awful lot of sense.”

However, the shipowner is concerned over the concept of regulating operational efficiency, which he described as “pretty strange”, and he likened saying a company needs to work on reducing its costs.

“What is a little bit unsettling to us is there is a debate around operational efficiency starting with this measurement verification and reporting (MRV)…. which is for many regulators a prelude to operational efficiency,” Stevens said.

“There is no other transport form in the world that has operational efficiency regulations.”

A lack of policy discussion at the recent IMO MEPC 68 meeting as to why such regulations were needed in the first place was noted.

Stevens quipped: “It’s like the 10 scariest words in the English language ‘We are from the government and we’re here to help’.”