Ship owners are facing yet another round of maritime regulations that will impact their operations: the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) introduction of the ballast water management convention in September 2017 has been followed by the 1 January 2020 global sulphur cap.
While these are designed to improve the environmental operations of the maritime sector, there is little doubt that it brings continuing added pressures to ship owners.
The race to be compliant with the IMO sulphur 2020 cap has been a long process in terms of development and even at this late stage there is still hostile debate, conjecture, rancour and annoyance by some in the maritime world over this environmental policy. Yet there are fewer arguments against the effects of greenhouse gas emissions from maritime transport. They currently account for around 2.5% of the global total and according to Panos Kirnidis, CEO of Palau International Ship Registry (PISR) who believes there is struggle at the heart of this issue.
PISR is actively involved with environmental matters and has introduced two innovative initiatives the first being a Blue Fee which is a flat charge of $5USD to all jobs processed that is remitted to Palau for the national marine sanctuary fund.
The second is a Blue Certificate, which is issued to ships that conform to the registry’s additional quality, safety and environmental standards which are among the highest in the shipping world. A Blue Certificate is issued following the Annual Flag State Inspection if the vessel attains designated safety and environmental standards, it is valid for 12 months and will be reissued every year if the vessels maintain or exceed the standards set. Every ship that obtains a Blue Certificate also qualifies for a discount on their annual fees.
“There is little doubt that the shipping world is committed to the reduction of greenhouse gases and other environmental matters that affect the shipping world. Ship owners understand these issues and there is no sticking of heads in the sand and hoping to ignore things and they will go away. Ship owners are under considerable pressures to get their vessels from port to port and they need a reliable partner to help them in their everyday operations. But they are realists and do have a strong sense of proprietary when it comes to such important global matters. Solving real problems can be achieved through a blend of the latest SMART technology and employing smart people. For ship owners this is the real benefit of embracing technology. It is also a smart way for regulators to work more closely with ship owners for everyone’s benefit. It is also the way registries like PISR can help them achieve these hard emissions targets with our Blue Certificates and rewarding best practice.”
Panos Kirnidis sees the environmental concerns of The Republic of Palau as a vital element in his registry’s commitment to the maritime debate.
“PISR is committed to environmental issues in our everyday operations and we work closely with the Palau government in helping to support this work. We charge our fleet a blue fee that we remit to Palau for the national marine sanctuary fund. In addition we have our Blue Certificate certificates which are automatically given to a vessel that complies with our additional environmental standards that are inspected during the Annual Safety Inspection we make on the vessel. If the vessel obtains one of our Blue Certificate, then the ship will automatically qualify for a discount on the annual fees.”
Caring for the environment protection has long been an important part of Palau’s culture and PISR supports such important and recognised protection. The Blue Fee supports the Palau National Marine Sanctuary which this tiny island nation has set aside 500,000 square kilometers (80%) of its maritime territory for this dedicated environmental effort shows its commitment.
These initiatives are vital in an era of environmental concern and when changes are being brought into the maritime world and in particular, to the vital shipping industry. Shipping emissions are predicted to increase between 50% and 250% by 2050 subject to future economic and energy developments and the IMO committed the maritime industry at a meeting in 2018 to halve carbon emissions by 2050. While this is achievable in the eyes of many regulators and determined environmental bodies, Panos Kirnidis believes this will only happen with the ship owners being recognised as vital cogs in this programme of compliance.
“I am talking daily with ship owners and they see more regulations as inevitable but also as acceptable. After all, ship owners live like the rest of us on the planet and appreciate the need for emission reductions, particularly from the industry they operate in. We have discussions with many companies offering environmental services and products aimed at reducing emissions and some of these will be useful to our fleet and owners who do need help in these matters. At Palau we are constantly developing and refining our processes and services and we want to ensure our fleet conforms to every regulation. In the matters of greenhouse gas emissions there are workable options towards achieving compliance and we are working with ship owners, talking to fuel treatment companies and scrubber installers to determine the best way forward in the fight against greenhouse emissions. As I say to ship owners, we will always keep your needs at the top of our agenda. Without you we would just be another registry in a busy shipping world. What we all want to be are warriors of the environment but in a calculated, workable and sympathetic way.”
* BEng, MSc CEO PISR