Port authorities, in consultation with terminal operators, then advise them to change speed to arrive when a berth is available. One is Newcastle, Australia, where a bespoke vessel arrival system is said to require incoming vessels to contact the port 14 days ahead of expected arrival. For this reason, JIT has only been implemented in a few places. Coordinating customs, tugs, pilots, trains, and stevedores-all of whom work independently from one another-is difficult. This leaves JIT arrivals, where the problem is the ports. “It is not a systemic solution it’s a one-off-solution for a one-off voyage,” Haris Zografakis, a lawyer in London at Stephenson Harwood LLP who specializes in maritime law, said of virtual arrivals. In 2022, the company implemented a virtual arrival on only seven voyages out of hundreds completed. ![]() With virtual arrivals, the problem is the number of parties involved with each vessel, where everyone has to agree to a contract that allows the ship to slow down, said BW’s Banerjee. Studies suggest that removing wait times at anchorage can cut global shipping emissions by around 20%.īut it’s doubtful virtual and JIT arrivals can be implemented at scale. “These operational measures are relatively straightforward and can be implemented today without huge investments into technology and infrastructure,” said Minglee Hoe, a technical analyst with the IMO. “Even just small optimization on a large scale can result in big savings in emissions.”Ī 2022 report concluded container ships can reduce fuel consumption and CO2 emissions by 14% per voyage if they optimize speed this way. But what’s really driving their appeal is a regulation the IMO has been enforcing since January, the Carbon Intensity Indicator, which requires shipowners to improve their vessels’ carbon emissions. ![]() High fuel costs have been making virtual and JIT arrivals more palatable to the shipping industry. Rather than a contract between one shipowner and a charterer, ports coordinate their resources with all incoming vessels to ensure they optimize speed to arrive when there’s an available berth. Though this practice of “sail fast, then wait” is inherently wasteful, attempts to kill it have failed in part because of the complexities of reaching contract terms that satisfy all parties (and of course the profit incentive).Ī seemingly similar strategy is the “just-in-time” or JIT arrival. As they wait, they burn more fuel-but make more money. According to a 2020 report, tankers and bulk carriers spend as much as 10% of their time waiting to get into a port. Given the incentive, shipowners have traditionally hurried across oceans, burning more fuel at higher speeds only to wait upon reaching their destination. The customer will even agree to compensate the shipowner for waiting at anchorage, something is known as demurrage. Traditionally, when a shipowner is chartered to transport cargo, the contract requires the vessel to arrive at its destination as quickly as possible, regardless of traffic at the port. “To reduce emissions,” said Grant Hunter of the Baltic and International Maritime Council, the world’s largest international shipping association, “we’ve got to rethink the way we do our business.”īut in many ways, the industry is looking to rethink everything but its biggest, dirtiest problem of all. Indeed, the IMO concedes emissions could be 30% higher by 2050 if nothing is done. But with trade swelling, maritime volumes are projected to triple by then. The International Maritime Organization (IMO), the agency responsible for regulating shipping, has set ambitious goals, aiming to cut emissions by at least half before 2050 (using 2008 as a baseline). Despite this, the industry has made few inroads toward decarbonization, a fact regularly attributed to the difficulty of finding alternative ways to power big ships. International cargo and container shipping is responsible for 3% of global greenhouse gas emissions-roughly one billion metric tons of carbon dioxide annually, equal to all of Japan’s emissions. But as the climate crisis accelerates and fossil-fuel-dependent sectors like airlines and shipping struggle to shrink their carbon footprint, its popularity-as well as that of other greener strategies-is rising. Known as “virtual arrivals,” this method of smarter shipping has been around for a while. ![]() Last year, the strategy equated to more than 500 metric tons of unburned fuel, according to BW Vice President and Head of Operations Prodyut Banerjee. If during a vessel’s passage, it becomes clear that a berth won’t be free upon arrival at the port, the ship will simply slow down so it shows up when there’s room.īy not being forced to wait for days or weeks at a time, fuel is saved and emissions avoided-since these massive ships can’t just power down at anchor. Singapore-based BW LPG goes about its business differently than many shipowners.
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