107 shipowner CEOs and a group of environmental lobby groups have issued a joint letter to the IMO ahead of the pending meeting of the maritime environment protection committee meeting in support of mandatory speed measures as a way to reduce shipping measures.
The open letter comes as IMO member states meet to discuss immediate short term measures that could be implemented onto international shipping as part of the industry’s road to decarbonisation.
In the letter shipowners state ” We express our strong support for the IMO implementing mandatory regulation of global ship speeds differentiated across ship type and size categories. Our preference would be to set maximum annual average speeds for container ships, and maximum absolute speeds for the remaining ship types, which take account of minimum speed requirements”.
The letter is printed below along with its signatories
30/April/2019
Effectively addressing climate change is possibly the greatest challenge of our time. In 2015 world governments agreed in Paris that global temperature rise must be limited to well below 2ºC, while aiming for 1.5ºC compared to pre-industrial levels. A recent IPCC 1.5º Special Report also recommended “deep emissions reductions” to achieve these temperature goals.
In responding to this global challenge, member states of the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) agreed in April 2018 on an Initial GHG Strategy for international shipping. The strategy calls for shipping emissions to peak as soon as possible, for shipping’s carbon intensity to be reduced by at least 40% by 2030 and for total emissions to be cut by at least 50% by 2050 compared to 2008, while aiming for full decarbonisation. To do so, new operational measures will need to be implemented for both the existing fleet and new ships and immediate reductions achieved by 2023.
Since the April 2018 agreement several candidate measures have been proposed including speed regulation for all ships. Recent history shows that reducing the global fleet’s operational speed after the 2008 economic crash led to dramatic reductions in GHG emissions. This speaks to the real-world effectiveness of a potential prescriptive speed measure in helping achieve reduction targets. However, recent studies also suggest that ships are speeding up again as global demand recovers. Should this trend continue, any GHG gains from slow steaming over recent years will disappear.
The signatories to this letter unite in stressing the urgent need for shipping to make its appropriate contribution to addressing climate change. As the initial step we express our strong support for the IMO implementing mandatory regulation of global ship speeds differentiated across ship type and size categories. Our preference would be to set maximum annual average speeds for container ships, and maximum absolute speeds for the remaining ship types, which take account of minimum speed requirements. Such a regulation should be implemented as soon as possible and the obligation for compliance should be placed both on shipowners and operators, including charterers.
We call on all Parties at the forthcoming MEPC74 to support this move.
SIGNATORIES
[NEXT PAGE]
(Please note that this document does not legally bind the signatories, however indicates their initial support of the proposed concept)
Shipping Companies
- M. NOMIKOS TRANSWORLD MARITIME AGENCIES S.A.
- A.O.SCHIFFFAHRT MBH
- ACCESS SHIPPING LTD
- AHRENKIEL STEAMSHIP GMBH, HAMBURG
- AIMS SHIPPING CORPORATION
- ALASSIA NEWSHIPS MANAGEMENT INC.
- ALEXANDER OETKER SCHIFFAHRT, HAMBURG
- ALMI MARINE MANAGEMENT S.A.
- ALMI TANKERS S.A.
- ANBROS MARITIME S.A.
- ANDRIAKI SHIPPING Co. LTD
- APOLLONIA LINES S.A.
- ARKLOW SHIPPING LIMITED
- ARMINTER S.A.M, MONACO
- ASIATIC LLOYD SHIIPING PTE LTD, SINGAPORE
- ASTRA SHIPMANAGEMENT INC.
- ATLANTIC LLOYD GMBH, HAMBURG
- BESIKTAS SHIPPING GROUP, TURKEY
- BOREALIS MARITIME, LONDON, HAMBURG, ISTANBUL
- BRAVE MARITIME CORPORATION INC.
- BYZANTINE MARITIME CORPORATION
- C TRANSPORT MARITIME S.A.M. MONACO
- CENTROFIN MANAGEMENT INC.
- CHARTWORLD SHIPPING CORPORATION
- CMK EUROFINANCE
- COMMON PROGRESS S.A.
- CONTSHIPS MANAGEMENT INC.
- CYPRUS SEA LINES CO. LTD
- DALEX SHIPPING CO. S.A.
- DELTA TANKERS LTD
- DIANA SHIPPING SERVICES LTD
- DIANA WILHELMSEN MANAGEMENT LIMITED (DWM)
- DYNACOM TANKERS MANAGEMENT LTD
- DYNAGAS LTD
- EASTERN MEDITERRANEAN MARITIME LTD
- EFNAV COMPANY LTD
- ELEMENT SHIPMANAGEMENT S.A.
- EMPIRE BULKERS LTD
- EMPROS LINES SHIPPING CO.
- ENTERPRISES SHIPPING & TRADING S.A.
- EURONAV SHIP MANAGEMENT LTD
- EUROTANKERS INC.
- F. LAEISZ GROUP, HAMBURG
- GLOBAL CARRIERS LTD
- GOLDEN ENERGY MANAGEMENT S.A.
- GOLDENPORT MARINE SERVICES INC./ GOLDENPORT SHIPMANAGEMENT LTD
- GOODBULK LTD, MONACO
- GRECOMAR SHIPPING AGENCY LTD
- HALKIDON SHIPPING CORPORATION
- HELLENIC TANKERS CO. LTD
- HYDROUSSA NAVIGATION LTD
- INTERUNITY MANAGEMENT CORPORATION
- INTERUNITY MANAGEMENT SA GMBH, GERMANY
- IOLCOS HELLENIC MARITIME ENTERPRISES CO. LTD
- IONIA MANAGEMENT S.A.
- IONIC SHIPPING (MGT) INC.
- KYKLADES MARITIME CORPORATION
- LASKARIDIS SHIPPING CO. LTD
- LATSCO MARINE MANAGEMENT INC.
- LMZ SHIPPING S.A.
- LOAD LINE MARINE S.A.
- LOUIS DREYFUS ARMATEURS, FRANCE
- MARINE TRUST LTD
- MARLA DRY BULK SHIPMANAGEMENT INC.
- MARLA TANKERS SHIPMANAGEMENT INC.
- MARMARAS NAVIGATION LTD
- NAFTOMAR SHIPPING & TRADING CO. LTD
- NAVIOS MARITIME HOLDINGS INC.
- NEPHELE NAVIGATION COMPANY LIMITED
- NEW SHIPPING LIMITED
- NORDIC HAMBURG SHIPMANAGEMENT GMBH & CO.KG, HAMBURG
- OCEANBULK MARITIME S.A.
- OCEANGOLD TANKERS INC.
- OLYMPIA OCEAN CARRIERS LTD
- OMICRON SHIP MANAGEMENT INC.
- ORION REEDEREI GMBH & CO. KG, HAMBURG
- ÖSTERREICHISCHER LLOYD SEEREEDEREI (CYPRUS) LTD
- OVERSEAS MARINE ENTERPRISES INC.
- PAVIMAR S.A.
- PETROCHEM GENERAL MANAGEMENT S.A.
- PLEIADES SHIPPING AGENTS S.A.
- PRIME MARITIME INC
- PRODUCT SHIPPING & TRADING S.A.
- PROMINENCE MARITIME S.A.
- REEDEREI NORD GMBH, HAMBURG, CYPRUS, AMSTERDAM
- RIVAMAR SRL
- ROSWELL TANKERS CORPORATION
- ROXANA SHIPPING S.A.
- SAFE BULKERS MANAGEMENT LTD
- SAFESHIP MANAGEMENT INC.
- SAFETY MANAGEMENT OVERSEAS S.A.
- SEASTAR MARITIME MANAGEMENT S.A.
- SEA TRADE HOLDINGS, STAMFORD,U.S.A
- SEA TRADERS S.A.
- STAR BULK CARRIERS CORP.
- STEALTH MARITIME CORPORATION S.A.
- STEALTHGAS INC.
- SUN ENTERPRISES LTD
- TARGET MARINE S.A.
- TERRA NAVIS SHIPPING LTD
- TRANSMED SHIPPING LTD
- TSAKOS SHIPPING AND TRADING S.A.
- TSAVLIRIS RUSS (INTERNATIONAL) LTD
- UNIVERSAL SHIPPING ALLIANCE LTD
- VARCO S.A.
- VEGA REEDEREI GMBH & CO. KG, HAMBURG
- 2020 BULKERS LTD, OSLO NORWAY
Environmental groups
- Clean Shipping Coalition (CSC)
- Pacific Environment (PE)
- Transport & Environment (T&E)
- Environmental Investigation Agency
- AirClim
- Seas at Risk
- Stichting De Noordzee (North Sea Foundation)
