Speaking at the opening press conference of SMM 2022, Claudia Müller, German Federal Government Co-ordinator for the Maritime Industry, said that retrofits have emerged as an important topic of environmental debate since the industry last met in Hamburg in 2018.
The ships ordered today may still be in service when the 2050 decarbonization deadlines arrive, and yet the fleets ordered today are dominated by fossil fuel engines. “We need to talk about retrofit, this is the essential key to achieving the climate targets,” Müller said.
The fellow panellists disagreed, but each had their own priorities when it came to the challenge of decarbonization and future SMM discussions.
Dr. Uwe Lauber, CEO MAN Energy Solutions, said that the technology for zero carbon shipping is already available, and many options are on the way. LNG-fuelled engines have been tested and offer a path to zero carbon through sythnethic or e-LNG, methanol engines have been proven in recent years and the MAN ES expects ammonia-fuelled machines that will be ready by 2024.
“We believe as an engine maker that these three types of fuel play an important role, but everything depends on the availability of fuel. So we are not the bottleneck, just to be clear; the technology is there,” said Lauber.
“The question now is how fast to increase alternative fuels? At the end of the day the fuels must be neutral to co2, and that is the challenge,” he added.
Lars Robert Pedersen, Deputy Secretary General, BIMCO, believes that the focus of the industry should be to ensure adequate construction of supply infrastructure for future fuels, and then make a business case for them.
“The transition is likely to take two decades or maybe more. During this time, ships operating in a new environment with new fuels will have to compete with traditional fossil fuel ships. Can it really be can we balance the equation so that it is a good business? That is the big challenge,” said Pedersen.
Hapag-Lloyd’s Director of Regulatory Affairs, Wolfram Guntermann, said the container line has invested heavily in retrofitting its ships, including a program to retrofit energy-saving propellers to of 90 ships in the fleet, contributing to energy savings between 10% and 30%.
“In addition, some ships will get new noses with better hydrodynamics. The old ships were designed when everyone continued to operate in the left lane of the autobahn in 24-25 knots some of these days are over for good,” Guntermann said.
The retrofit program is ongoing and will continue into the future, Guntermann said, including retrofitting ships to operate on dual fuel LNG or alternative fuels. “We cannot afford to spend two more decades on this notorious chicken-and-egg discussion,” he added.
Setting the market background for the transition to green fuels, Steve Gordon, Managing Director of Clarksons Research GmbH said that the market is in a better position than when the SMM last gathered in 2018.
“The market is in a better position. There is a but, as you always expect in shipping. Shipping is a cyclical business and handles a lot of uncertainty in the world economy; that is one of the shootings that is the biggest challenge,” Gordon said.
The container and dry bulk markets that have driven industry fortunes to record highs in recent years have begun to soften in recent months, Gordon said, with a more positive outlook. for LNG and tanker shipping.
“This is a challenging story. A lot of cycles and issues to deal with,” Gordon said.
