Wallenius Wilhelmsen signs up to Clean Shipping Alliance

The shipowner, Wallenius Wilhelmsen, has signed up to the Clean Shipping Alliance 2020 (CSA 2020), taking the organisation’s membership to 35 shipowners operating a combined fleet of almost 2500 vessels.

The CSA 2020 is a group of companies from the commercial shipping and passenger ship industries that have pledged to support enforcement of the International Maritime Organization’s (IMO) requirement for a 0.5% global sulphur cap on fuel content as of January 1, 2020.

Other companies to have recently joined the Alliance include Hammonia Reederei, International Seaways, Chandris (Hellas) and Genco Shipping & Trading.

Roger Strevens, vice president of global sustainability at Wallenius Wilhelmsen, said: ‘The implementation of the IMO 2020 0.5% global sulphur cap is supported by the company, but it does represent a significant challenge for the shipping industry, not least from an anticipated hike in fuel costs and potential availability and quality problems.

‘To mitigate the risk and costs associated with these challenges, Wallenius Wilhelmsen will use low sulphur fuels on the majority of its fleet and scrubbers on the rest of its vessels. We join the Clean Shipping Alliance 2020, to help ensure the wider industry and its stakeholders have a sound scientific understanding of the operational and environmental performance of scrubbers.’

In January, the UK government published its first-ever maritime strategy, which details their vision of a zero-emission shipping industry by 2050.

Regulation has historically been set at the international level with such as the 1997 introduction of the North Sea Emission Control Area (ECA) and the 2020 global sulphur cap.

However, the government is now considering introducing targets to drive down emissions of GHGs and other air pollutants from UK shipping as ‘the volume of global trade increases.’

They also say they hope to have a group of hydrogen or ammonia powered domestic vessels in operation and at least one major ‘smart port’ in the UK to have all ship-side activity zero emission (including non-road mobile machinery like cranes).