Shipowners send open letter to IMO in support of mandatory speed cuts

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

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(Please note that this document does not legally bind the signatories, however indicates their initial support of the proposed concept) 

Shipping Companies

  1. M. NOMIKOS TRANSWORLD MARITIME AGENCIES S.A. 
  2. A.O.SCHIFFFAHRT MBH
  3. ACCESS SHIPPING LTD
  4. AHRENKIEL STEAMSHIP GMBH, HAMBURG
  5. AIMS SHIPPING CORPORATION
  6. ALASSIA NEWSHIPS MANAGEMENT INC.    
  7. ALEXANDER OETKER SCHIFFAHRT, HAMBURG
  8. ALMI MARINE MANAGEMENT S.A.
  9. ALMI TANKERS S.A. 
  10. ANBROS MARITIME S.A. 
  11. ANDRIAKI SHIPPING Co. LTD
  12. APOLLONIA LINES S.A.
  13. ARKLOW SHIPPING LIMITED
  14. ARMINTER S.A.M, MONACO
  15. ASIATIC LLOYD SHIIPING PTE LTD, SINGAPORE
  16. ASTRA SHIPMANAGEMENT INC. 
  17. ATLANTIC LLOYD GMBH, HAMBURG
  18. BESIKTAS SHIPPING GROUP, TURKEY
  19. BOREALIS MARITIME, LONDON, HAMBURG, ISTANBUL
  20. BRAVE MARITIME CORPORATION INC.
  21. BYZANTINE MARITIME CORPORATION
  22. C TRANSPORT MARITIME S.A.M. MONACO
  23. CENTROFIN MANAGEMENT INC.
  24. CHARTWORLD SHIPPING CORPORATION
  25. CMK EUROFINANCE 
  26. COMMON PROGRESS S.A.
  27. CONTSHIPS MANAGEMENT INC.
  28. CYPRUS SEA LINES CO. LTD 
  29. DALEX SHIPPING CO. S.A.
  30. DELTA TANKERS LTD
  31. DIANA SHIPPING SERVICES LTD
  32. DIANA WILHELMSEN MANAGEMENT LIMITED (DWM)
  33. DYNACOM TANKERS MANAGEMENT LTD
  34. DYNAGAS LTD
  35. EASTERN MEDITERRANEAN MARITIME LTD
  36. EFNAV COMPANY LTD
  37. ELEMENT SHIPMANAGEMENT S.A.
  38. EMPIRE BULKERS LTD  
  39. EMPROS LINES SHIPPING CO.
  40. ENTERPRISES SHIPPING & TRADING S.A.
  41. EURONAV SHIP MANAGEMENT LTD
  42. EUROTANKERS INC.
  43. F. LAEISZ GROUP, HAMBURG
  44. GLOBAL CARRIERS LTD
  45. GOLDEN ENERGY MANAGEMENT S.A.
  46. GOLDENPORT MARINE SERVICES INC./ GOLDENPORT SHIPMANAGEMENT LTD
  47. GOODBULK LTD, MONACO
  48. GRECOMAR SHIPPING AGENCY LTD   
  49. HALKIDON SHIPPING CORPORATION
  50. HELLENIC TANKERS CO. LTD 
  51. HYDROUSSA NAVIGATION LTD
  52. INTERUNITY MANAGEMENT CORPORATION
  53. INTERUNITY MANAGEMENT SA GMBH, GERMANY
  54. IOLCOS HELLENIC MARITIME ENTERPRISES CO. LTD
  55. IONIA MANAGEMENT S.A.
  56. IONIC SHIPPING (MGT) INC.
  57. KYKLADES MARITIME CORPORATION
  58. LASKARIDIS SHIPPING CO. LTD
  59. LATSCO MARINE MANAGEMENT INC.
  60. LMZ SHIPPING S.A.  
  61. LOAD LINE MARINE S.A.
  62. LOUIS DREYFUS ARMATEURS, FRANCE
  63. MARINE TRUST LTD
  64. MARLA DRY BULK SHIPMANAGEMENT INC.
  65. MARLA TANKERS SHIPMANAGEMENT INC.
  66. MARMARAS NAVIGATION LTD
  67. NAFTOMAR SHIPPING & TRADING CO. LTD
  68. NAVIOS MARITIME HOLDINGS INC.
  69. NEPHELE NAVIGATION COMPANY LIMITED 
  70. NEW SHIPPING LIMITED 
  71. NORDIC HAMBURG SHIPMANAGEMENT GMBH & CO.KG, HAMBURG
  72. OCEANBULK MARITIME S.A.
  73. OCEANGOLD TANKERS INC.
  74. OLYMPIA OCEAN CARRIERS LTD
  75. OMICRON SHIP MANAGEMENT INC.
  76. ORION REEDEREI GMBH & CO. KG, HAMBURG
  77. ÖSTERREICHISCHER LLOYD SEEREEDEREI (CYPRUS) LTD
  78. OVERSEAS MARINE ENTERPRISES INC.
  79. PAVIMAR S.A.
  80. PETROCHEM GENERAL MANAGEMENT S.A.
  81. PLEIADES SHIPPING AGENTS S.A.
  82. PRIME MARITIME INC
  83. PRODUCT SHIPPING & TRADING S.A.   
  84. PROMINENCE MARITIME S.A.
  85. REEDEREI NORD GMBH, HAMBURG, CYPRUS, AMSTERDAM
  86. RIVAMAR SRL
  87. ROSWELL TANKERS CORPORATION
  88. ROXANA SHIPPING S.A.
  89. SAFE BULKERS MANAGEMENT LTD 
  90. SAFESHIP MANAGEMENT INC.
  91. SAFETY MANAGEMENT OVERSEAS S.A.
  92. SEASTAR MARITIME MANAGEMENT S.A.
  93. SEA TRADE HOLDINGS, STAMFORD,U.S.A  
  94. SEA TRADERS S.A.
  95. STAR BULK CARRIERS CORP. 
  96. STEALTH MARITIME CORPORATION S.A. 
  97. STEALTHGAS INC.
  98. SUN ENTERPRISES LTD
  99. TARGET MARINE S.A.
  100. TERRA NAVIS SHIPPING LTD   
  101. TRANSMED SHIPPING LTD     
  102. TSAKOS SHIPPING AND TRADING S.A. 
  103. TSAVLIRIS RUSS (INTERNATIONAL) LTD  
  104. UNIVERSAL SHIPPING ALLIANCE LTD
  105. VARCO S.A.
  106. VEGA REEDEREI GMBH & CO. KG, HAMBURG
  107. 2020 BULKERS LTD, OSLO NORWAY

Environmental groups

  1. Clean Shipping Coalition (CSC)
  2. Pacific Environment (PE)
  3. Transport & Environment (T&E)
  4. Environmental Investigation Agency
  5. AirClim
  6. Seas at Risk
  7. Stichting De Noordzee (North Sea Foundation)

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