Wartsila, a company in the spearhead of shipping’s decarbonization efforts, expects more to be done in the coming months and years, in terms of accelerating the inevitable need to lower emissions. However, as Mr. Sachin Kulkarni – Head of Sales, Marine Power, South Asia, Wärtsilä says, in an exclusive interview with Hellenic Shipping News Worldwide , the technology to drastically reduce emissions already exists today. “But the mere existence of technology does not decarbonise maritime alone – action from both the market and regulatory side of the maritime industry is crucial to incentivise investment, build infrastructure, favour the development of the needed fuel supply chain, and legislate to accelerate the adoption of these technologies. Decarbonising maritime will take more than technology”.
Wartsila is positioned as a technology company looking to offer solutions towards the shipping industry’s decarbonization process. Which are the main “ingredients” of this undertaking?
The International Maritime Organization (IMO) regulation is a major driver for industry transformation. On April 2018, the IMO committed to reducing GHG by 40% by 2030 and total annual GHG emissions on a fleet level by at least 50% by 2050 compared to 2008. But due to an increasing number of vessels, by 2050 the increase should be 70% or even 80% on a vessel level.
In line with such targets, new short-term measures are set to come into force in 2023. All the vessels above a certain tonnage, new and old ones, will have to comply with newly introduced IMO sustainability indices, which will be used to assess the energy efficiency of both vessel designs and operations.
As maritime speeds towards decarbonisation, the biggest question of our time is not if or when, but how this will be achieved. The industry is experiencing an unprecedented era of change, but not one of uncertainty. What we need to do is certain and the time to act is now.
As a company with the most comprehensive portfolio at hand in the industry, Wartsila is turning technology into solutions to enable a sustainable maritime industry.
To drive sustainable shipping, elements like Fuel flexible systems, Energy saving technologies and electrification would take us to reduction in GHG level.
Wärtsilä does this by developing technology and fuel flexibility to create the path towards decarbonisation of the maritime industry. Our history of delivering innovations and industry firsts when it comes to fuel flexibility includes multi fuel technology.
Transition (with our multi-fuel technology) will not simply consist of a clean swap to one fuel or the other but will include fuel blends and drop-ins.
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