'Carrot and Stick' Approach Needed on Alternative Bunkers: Monjasa

by Ship & Bunker News Team
Friday November 17, 2023

Regulators will need to take a carrot and stick approach to driving the uptake of alternative fuels in shipping, according to global marine fuel supplier and trading firm Monjasa.

Anders Østergaard, group CEO of Monjasa, was speaking during a panel session on zero-carbon fuels at the recent International Association of Ports and Harbors conference in Abu Dhabi.

"As an industry, we are now at a point where we need real market incentives to push the green shipping transition forward," Østergaard said at the conference.

"Only through a politically-led mixture of carrot and stick will we see the fuel price gap narrow, and the low-carbon fuels emerge.

"Until this happens, Monjasa will keep preparing our global supply chains, fleet logistics and organisation for the fuel mix of tomorrow."

Alternative fuels are increasingly available as an option to shipping, but the high price of some of the low-carbon options is prohibitive for many in the industry.

Some industry voices are increasingly calling for global taxes for every tonne of CO2 equivalent emitted during marine fuel use, with the funds raised then used to subsidise zero- and low-carbon fuels, narrowing the price gap between them and conventional bunkers. But such an approach appears at least several years away at the IMO, and would face several technical and political challenges before it could be adopted.

Ship & Bunker News Team
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