Shorter shipping routes through the Arctic are not necessarily more climate friendly

Long inaccessible to ships, as a consequence of global warming, much of the Arctic Ocean is now navigable in the summer months. While the newly ice-free Northern Sea Route cuts the distance of the journey between Northern Europe and Japan by 40 percent, recent research from Haakon-Elizabeth Lindstad and colleagues shows that it may not be more climate-friendly. Assessing the cost, emissions and climate impact of using the Northern Sea Route compared to the Indian Ocean and the Suez Canal, they find that the impact of shipping-related greenhouse gas emissions in the Arctic region counteracts the benefits of the shorter voyage distance and lower fuel consumption

Low carbon maritime transport: How speed, size and slenderness amounts to substantial capital energy substitution

AbstractThree responses that reduce energy consumption and CO2 emissions in maritime transport are slower speeds, larger vessels and slender hull designs. We use crude oil carriers as our illustrative example; these represent nearly a quarter of international sea cargo movements. We estimate the potential and costs in these which can all be described as capital substituting for energy and emissions. At different degrees of flexibility and time scales: speed reductions are feasible immediately when there are vessels available, though more capital will be tied up in cargo. Deployment of larger and more slender vessels to a greater extent requires fleet renovation, and also investments in ports and infrastructure. A novel finding in our analysis is that if bunker costs rise as a result of emission costs (fees, quotas), then this may depress speeds and emissions more than if they result from higher oil prices. The reason is that for higher oil prices, more capital tied up in cargo may give cargo owners an interest in speeding up, partly counteracting the impulse from fuel costs that tends to slow vessels down. Emission costs, in contrast, do not raise cargo values

The importance of economies of scale for reductions in greenhouse gas emissions from shipping

AbstractCO2 emissions from maritime transport represent 3.3% of the world's total CO2 emissions and are forecast to increase by 150%–250% by 2050, due to increased freight volumes (Second IMO GHG study, 2009). Fulfilling anticipated climate requirements (IPCC, 2007) could require the sector to reduce emissions per freight unit by a factor of five or six. The International Maritime Organization (IMO) is currently debating technical, operational and market-based measures for reducing greenhouse gas emissions from shipping. This paper also investigates the effects of economies of scale on the direct emissions and costs of maritime transport. We compared emissions from the current fleet (2007), with what can be achieved by increasing average vessel size. The comparison is based on the 2007 levels of trade and predictions for 2050. The results show that emissions can be reduced by up to 30% at a negative abatement cost per ton of CO2 by replacing the existing fleet with larger vessels. Replacing the whole fleet might take as long as 25 years, so the reduction in emissions will be achieved gradually as the current fleet is renewed

Environmental Taxation in Transport

Abstract For the purpose of providing public goods (e.g. air quality, congestion management and greenhouse gas mitigation), the transportation sector employs – and should employ – imperfect policy instruments, such as fuel taxes, feebates, emission standards and tolls. Then, policymakers need knowledge of the sector and how it can be more environmentally friendly. With examples from cars to maritime shipping, we highlight common themes in environmental improvements beyond technology improvements: exploitation of scale economy, capacity utilization and slower speeds. Imperfect instruments ask for awareness of a broader set of environmental responses. Fuel taxes will, to some extent, succeed in eliciting responses such as scale economy, capacity utilization, slowdown, and mode change from air to surface, from road to rail, and from rail to sea. Standards often work narrowly through technology and new acquisitions, such as individual vehicles or vessels. Keywords: Congestion, emission reduction, environment, greenhouse gases, mitigation, accidents, public goods, road pricing, taxation, transport sector, scale, capacity utilization. Acknowledgement: The authors gratefully acknowledge support from the Research Council of Norway, CenSES and HyFiTransport, stays at World Bank and Stanford, as well as remarks from Somik Lall, Larry Goulder and Roar Aadland. Remaining issues rest with the authors. Additional comments were received from participants at the GGKP’s Third Annual Conference on “Fiscal Policies and the Green Economy Transition: Generating Knowledge – Creating Impact”, held in Venice, Italy, 29-30 January 2015.publishedVersio

Strategies and measures for reducing maritime CO₂ emissions

CO2 emissions from maritime transport represent 3.3% of global anthropogenic CO2 emissions. These emissions are forecasted to increase by 150% - 250% up to 2050, due to increased freight volumes (Buhaug et al., 2009). Fulfilling anticipated climate requirements (IPCC, 2007) could require the sector to reduce emissions per freight unit transported by a factor of five or six. This thesis, focus on strategies and measures for reducing maritime CO2 emissions within the maritime sector. These emissions can also be reduced outside the sector through market based measures (MBM) by buying emission quotas, which basically means that the shipping sector pays other sectors for reducing their emissions. New and emerging technologies can also contribute to emission reductions. However the objective of this work has been to focus on reducing emission through improving energy efficiency. One of the objectives for this research, has been to investigate if the available strategies and measures for improving energy efficiency on its own could enable emission reductions by up to 85% per freight unit transported by 2050, which is a substantial challenge. The question is thus how to realize the required greenhouse gas reductions, and at the same time meet sea-transport system mission objectives. A fundamental criterion for enabling this has been to establish the main drivers for making ships more energy efficient and environmentally friendly, and the relationship between the main drivers. The methodological strategy to achieve this has been to include both the micro and macro perspective of shipping. This thesis consists of three parts. The first part contains: an introduction to maritime transport and emission reductions; the state of the art study; the context for my research and the introduction to my journal papers. The second part contains: the six papers which are the major contribution to this thesis. The third part contains how this research has contributed to state of the art, conclusions and further research

Environmental regulations in shipping: Policies leaning towards globalization of scrubbers deserve scrutiny

ABSTRACT Emission regulations for Sulphur oxides (SOx) and nitrogen oxides (NOx) are motivated by health- and other environmental objectives in local and regional settings, while global warming concerns motivate policies for carbon dioxide (CO2). We point out that the direction chosen by the International Maritime Organization (IMO) – to tighten SOx and NOx limits globally - carries important risks. First, extending to a global setting the present regulations in coastal emission control areas (ECAs, in North America and Northern Europe) gives negligible or negative environmental benefits, and raises global warming impacts. Second, ‘end-of-pipe’ solutions, such as scrubbing and tuning, become dominant responses, and they reduce energy efficiency. Third, the adoption of these end-of-pipe solutions carry risks of deflecting attention from development of cleaner fuels and improving energy efficiency. Distinguishing local environmental benefits from global ones is important in general, and our research concludes that in the case of shipping, this distinction better serves the needs of the local environment, the global climate, and conserves on abatement costs.acceptedVersio

Assessment of cost as a function of abatement options in maritime emission control areas

This paper assesses cost as a function of abatement options in maritime emission control areas (ECA). The first regulation of air pollutions from ships which came into effect in the late 1990s was not strict and could easily be met. However the present requirement (2015) for reduction of Sulfur content for all vessels, in combination with the required reduction of nitrogen and carbon emissions for new-built vessels, is an economic and technical challenge for the shipping industry. Additional complexity is added by the fact that the strictest nitrogen regulations are applicable only for new-built vessels from 2016 onwards which shall enter US or Canadian waters. This study indicates that there is no single answer to what is the best abatement option, but rather that the best option will be a function of engine size, annual fuel consumption in the ECA and the foreseen future fuel prices. However a low oil price, favors the options with the lowest capex, i.e. Marine Gas Oil (MGO) or Light Fuel Oil (LFO), while a high oil price makes the solutions which requires higher capex (investments) more attractive.acceptedVersio

Batteries in offshore support vessels – Pollution, climate impact and economics

This paper assesses the pros and the cons of installing batteries on offshore support vessels. These vessels are specially designed to provide services to oil and gas operations, such as anchor handling, supply and subsea operations. They have multiple engines and advanced dynamic positioning systems to ensure that they can perform their duties with high reliability at nearly any sea state. Combined with high safety requirements, this has resulted in general operational patterns with vessels running multiple combustion engines even at calm water conditions. For emissions, low engine loads yield high emissions of exhaust gases such as nitrogen oxides (NOx) and aerosols such as black carbon (BC), due to less favorable combustion conditions. The high span for these vessels between low loads and high, and their great need for potential power at short notice, motivate our examination of hybrid setups with electric: the vessel segment should be more favorable than many. We find that combining batteries with combustion engines reduces local pollution and climate impact, while the economics with current battery cost and fuel prices is good enough for new vessels, but not good enough for retrofits

Opportunities for increased profit and reduced cost and emissions by service differentiation within container liner shipping

This paper investigates opportunities for increased profit and reduced emissions and cost by service differentiation within container shipping. Traditionally the strategy among the container lines has been profit maximization by utilizing economies of scale through the building of larger and faster vessels. In 2008, the financial crisis in combination with higher fuel prices put an end to this progress and in today’s market operators are basically trying to survive by providing standardized services at the lowest possible cost. This study investigates alternative strategies and the results indicate that container lines should provide two different services instead of one standardized service. A fast service to be more competitive versus air freight for fast-moving goods and a slow service to be more competitive versus traditional shipping types for transport of minor bulk, break bulk, liquid bulk and project cargo.acceptedVersio

Batteries in Offshore Support vessels - Pollution, climate impact and economics

This paper assesses the pros and the cons of installing batteries on offshore support vessels. These vessels are specially designed to provide services to oil and gas operations, such as anchor handling, supply and subsea operations. They have multiple engines and advanced dynamic positioning systems to ensure that they can perform their duties with high reliability at nearly any sea state. Combined with high safety requirements, this has resulted in general operational patterns with vessels running multiple combustion engines even at calm water conditions. For emissions, low engine loads yield high emissions of exhaust gases such as nitrogen oxides (NOx) and aerosols such as black carbon (BC), due to less favorable combustion conditions. The high span for these vessels between low loads and high, and their great need for potential power at short notice, motivate our examination of hybrid setups with electric: the vessel segment should be more favorable than many. We find that combining batteries with combustion engines reduces local pollution and climate impact, while the economics with current battery cost and fuel prices is good enough for new vessels, but not good enough for retrofits