Shipping Industry Lacks the Cash to Spend on Decarbonisation: Newport Shipping

by Ship & Bunker News Team
Friday September 11, 2020

Parts of the shipping industry do not have sufficient funds available to them to decarbonise, despite being keen to do so, according to shipyard owner Newport Shipping.

"Right now, many owners willing to make the change simply don't have the capital to invest in conversions," Lianghui XIa, managing director of Newport Shipping, said in an emailed statement earlier this week.

"To reach IMO targets will take a collective effort."

Governments could offer tax incentives to encourage ship owners and charterers to invest in decarbonisation technology, he said.

The company argues the wide range of potential future fuels now being discussed, combined with a lack of firm guidance from the IMO, has caused owners to hesitate before starting to invest.

Xia is an advocate of investing in LNG bunkering now as an immediate measure before moving on to zero-carbon alternatives.

"Shipowners can be counted on to do the right thing once they have exhausted every other option," he said.

"When it comes to climate change, we cannot afford to wait for a solution to appear – there is no vaccine for global warming.

"The question is not 'should we do this now?', it is 'why haven't we already started'?"

Ship & Bunker News Team
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