IMO Kicks Off Global Project to Tackle Increasing Shipping Emissions

Under a new project, the IMO has issued a call for hosts located in the project's target regions that may be interested in establishing MTCCs.

The International Maritime Organization (IMO) Friday announced the launch of its new global project to tackle increasing emissions from shipping - complete with €10 million ($11.28 million) in European Union (EU) funding.

The "Capacity Building for Climate Change Mitigation in the Maritime Shipping Industry" project is now looking to establish Maritime Technology Cooperation Centres (MTCCs), which as Ship & Bunker previously reported, are to be located in each of five target regions – Africa, Asia, the Caribbean, Latin America, and the Pacific - and will be selected via a bidding process.

"Developing countries, which play a significant role in international shipping, often lack the means to improve energy efficiency in their shipping sectors," explained the IMO.

"This four-year project will enable developing countries, especially Least Developed Countries and Small Island Developing States, in the target regions to effectively implement energy-efficiency measures through technical assistance and capacity building."

Potential hosts have until May 15, 2016 to submit expressions of interest.

IMO explains that the MTCCs are intended "to become centres of excellence, providing leadership in promoting ship energy-efficiency technologies and operations, and the reduction of harmful emissions from ships."

The selection process is said to consist of three steps, including the call for expressions of interest, due diligence missions to short-listed entities, and a call for full proposals.

"The five organizations whose bids are successful will go on to host MTCCs with initial funding support from the project. They will enter into a contract with IMO to deliver mutually-agreed project milestones over a three-year period," stated the IMO.

In January, the IMO announced that it had received the €10 million ($11.28 million) in funding support from the European Commission (EC) for the project.