Page 23: of Marine News Magazine (February 2023)

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deployable in a practical sense, lead- ing to real long-term sustainability.

We will provide one simple ESG example on how the environmental requirements can affect the commer- cial viability. A recent shipping com- pany that delivered lique? ed natural gas (LNG) powered vessels to achieve better emissions performance re- turned to the shipyard to modify the engines back to dual fuel and marine diesel oil (MDO). The current price of LNG was prohibitive, and as a re- sult, the operation was not sustainable or deployable based on the preferred environmental fuel choice.

The shipping industry represents only a 1.7% of global greenhouse gas emissions. There have been smart de- cisions and regulations. The develop- ment of the Emission Control Areas (ECA) directing sulfur and nitrous oxide reduction within population ar- eas addressed all vessel types trading in the designated areas – foreign and domestic – large and small. The regu- lations not only provided sustainable technical directions but also led to forward thinking ship owners and en- gine manufacturers to look at hybrid,

LNG and alternatives fuels in smaller engines and vessels. The regulation created a pilot platform that could be used to develop technical adjustment for the larger engines. The larger ships complied within the ECA and re- turned to lower sulfur heavy fuels out- side the population area and as a result remained economically sustainable.

So why not continue chipping away at emissions sustainability within the same process to ensure commer- cial sustainability: smart regulations building on our current reporting re- quirements and standards?

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