ECSA Supports Latest European Strategy for Emissions Reduction

Patrick Verhoeven ECSA Secretary General

The European Community Shipowners' Associations (ECSA) have issued a declaration of support for the European Commission (EC)'s recently released European Strategy for Low-Emission Mobility, and particularly that emissions from shipping form part of a wider action plan.

"We believe that shipping obviously must be part of the global solutions to limit the increase in the global temperature as we clearly are also a global contributor to the carbon emissions," said ECSA Secretary General Patrick Verhoeven.

"Overall, we welcome the comprehensive approach of the EU strategy, which focuses also on supporting multi-modality, alternative fuels, digitalisation and innovation."

The EC strategy asserts that transport sectors, including shipping, should be working towards the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) and other air pollutants in the EU, and expects a growing role for liquefied natural gas (LNG) as part of those efforts.

"Natural Gas is expected to be increasingly used as an alternative for marine fuels in shipping and for diesel in lorries and coaches. Its potential can be increased significantly with the use of bio-methane and synthetic methane (power-to-gas technologies)," stated the EC strategy.

Dr Michael Traut, Research Associate at the Tyndall Centre, University of Manchester, will presumably be one voice in disagreement with that view.

He recently told Ship & Bunker that, while LNG bunkers may solve the shorter term problem of reducing certain ship emissions such as SOx, they will not address the wider challenge of reducing the sector's GHGs.