The energy transition of the port and shipping industry has encountered many challenges, and many institutions have suggested strengthening policy guidance
China's port and shipping industries continue to carry out energy transition and pollution prevention and control, with obvious results, but at the same time, they are also facing many challenges such as loose standards and difficult alternative fuel selection.
At the "2023 Port and Shipping Pioneer Forum" held today (7th) by the Asian Clean Air Center, experts from the Institute of Environmental Resources of the Water Transport Research Institute of the Ministry of Transport said that water transport provides a strong guarantee for social and economic development, but it is also one of the important sources of air pollutants and greenhouse gas emissions. The energy transition process is not only related to the improvement of air quality and public health in surrounding cities, but also affects the green development and zero-carbon future of ports and shipping, as well as the entire transportation industry.
Experts from China Classification Society also said that in the context of the "dual carbon" goal and the more stringent greenhouse gas emission reduction strategy of the International Maritime Organization, the port and shipping industry is facing new challenges and new opportunities for green development.
Among the top 10 ports in the world in terms of cargo throughput and container throughput, China occupies eight and seven seats respectively.
According to the Blue Harbor Pioneer 2023 released today by the Asia Clean Air Centre, while the port and shipping industry carries activities such as cargo handling and port transportation and logistics services, port handling machinery, in-port transport vehicles, collection and distribution trucks, and port docking vessels, air pollutants and greenhouse gas emissions are also brought by the transportation activities of port handling machinery, in-port transport vehicles, collection and distribution trucks, and port docking vessels. In addition, the cargo itself will also produce dust and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) emissions in the process of loading, unloading, storage, and transportation.
According to the Blue Port Pioneer 2023, in 2022, the shore power coverage rate of specialized berths in China's 21 coastal ports will reach 84%, of which 7 ports will reach 100%, and 21 inland ports will achieve full coverage of shore power at specialized berths. The proportion of clean collection and distribution of railways, waterways and pipelines in 25 coastal and inland ports has reached 75% on average, and the volume of container rail-water combined transportation at the ports increased by 16% year-on-year in 2022.
The energy transition process of the port and shipping industry is related to the green development and zero-carbon future of the entire transportation industry. Photography / Zhang Ke
In Guangzhou, Yueyang and Wuhan, for example, the air pollution source emission inventories of these three places show that nitrogen oxides (NOx) emitted by port ships account for more than half of the city's total NOx emissions. In addition, according to the air quality data of 53 major port cities in China in 2022, nearly 40% of port cities have exceeded the annual average concentration of fine particulate matter (PM2.5) and ozone (O3).
The study also found that as a key path to achieve pollution reduction and carbon reduction, the energy substitution of port ships, port mobile machinery, port transport vehicles and port collection and distribution trucks has started quickly and made breakthroughs.
As of 2022, 11 LNG dual-fuel, hybrid and pure electric tugboats have been delivered or under construction in China's ports, of which 2 are pure electric tugboats, high-power electric mobile machinery has been applied in many major ports, and the electrification ratio of mobile machinery in Hangzhou Port has reached 14%, the proportion of new energy for in-port transport vehicles in 16 ports has reached 16% on average, and some ports have begun to promote the construction of charging and swapping facilities for collection and distribution trucks and inland vessels, and have laid out zero-carbon fuel bunkering business for ships.
According to the "2023 IMO Ship Greenhouse Gas Emission Reduction Strategy" adopted by the 80th session of the Marine Environment Protection Committee of the International Maritime Organization (IMO) in July 2023, the target for reducing the total greenhouse gas emissions of international maritime transport has been tightened from "halving 2050 compared with 2008" to "achieving net-zero emissions around 2050".From January 2024, shipping will be included in the EU ETS, and all passenger and cargo ships of 5,000 gross tonnage and above entering EU ports will be required to monitor and report their emissions, and pay a carbon allowance for every tonne of CO2e emitted.
The "Shipping Pioneer 2023" released at the same time also said that China's international maritime trade volume has accounted for 1/3 of the global maritime volume. Promoting emission reductions for international vessels during their voyages and calls in Chinese waters is not only related to the continuous improvement of air quality in China's coastal cities, but also helps to enhance the competitiveness and influence of China's shipping industry in the world.
According to the "Shipping Pioneer 2023", the decarbonization process of container ships, bulk carriers and oil tankers is affected by the characteristics of the shipping market and routes. The survey found that in terms of shore power receiving facilities, the staffing rate of container ships has reached 15.5% (in terms of capacity, the same below), and that of bulk carriers is only 3.5%. Bulk cargo routes are relatively unfixed, and there are still relatively few ports around the world that can provide shore power supply facilities, which has become one of the reasons restricting the deployment of shore power receiving facilities for bulk carriers.
IMO Preliminary Strategy (2018) and Revised Strategy (2023) for Reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions. Source: 2023 Shipping Pioneer
"We have been tracking the progress of pollution reduction and carbon reduction in China's major ports for four consecutive years, and are committed to promoting the green, low-carbon and high-quality development of China's ports and logistics system. Cheng Huihui, director of the transportation program at the Asia Center for Clean Air, said the series of reports is based on data from open sources and provides an annual evaluation of the actions of China's typical ports (including coastal and inland waterways) in air pollution control and greenhouse gas emission reduction.
Fu Lu, Chief Representative of the Beijing Representative Office of the Asia Clean Air Centre, said that during the 14th Five-Year Plan period, China's port pollution and carbon reduction policies have become more systematic, with continuous and in-depth measures, more powerful actions, and remarkable progress, but it is still necessary to strengthen the planning and design of zero emissions as the long-term goal, and further promote the implementation of various emission reduction measures.
The survey found that the green development strategies of some ports are limited to the 14th Five-Year Plan or carbon peak targets, and there is a lack of long-term plans to achieve carbon neutrality or near-zero or zero emissions, and the emission reduction of third-party fleets and leased machinery is often overlooked.
According to the "Shipping Pioneer 2023", at this stage, it is not clear which alternative fuels can become the best choice for zero carbon emissions in shipping, and the application of alternative fuels still faces challenges such as technical feasibility, total cost of ownership, availability of green and low-carbon fuels, and control of non-CO2 greenhouse gas emissions.
At the forum, a number of experts suggested that we should continue to play a leading role in policies, form a joint force of various parties in the industry, accelerate the large-scale application of alternative energy, and promote zero emissions in the whole life cycle of alternative energy. Continue to tighten the pollutant emission standards for domestic ships, non-road mobile machinery, and trucks, and include them in the greenhouse gas emission limits. Promote the construction of fuel filling facilities such as methanol, ammonia, and hydrogen, as well as low-carbon energy supply facilities such as charging and swapping stations. Shipping enterprises, cargo owners, road transport enterprises, etc. shall establish "green shipping corridors" and "green freight corridors".
Regarding the choice of alternative fuels that the industry is concerned about, a number of experts suggested accelerating the construction of a clear regulatory framework and medium- and long-term measures for international maritime decarbonization, continuously improving the greenhouse gas emission accounting guidelines and certification of each alternative fuel path based on the whole life cycle, and promoting the large-scale application of zero-emission fuels. At the same time, port countries can promote the production and supply of green and low-carbon fuels through effective economic, policy and other incentives, which will not only help drive the development of their own green energy industry chain, but also accelerate the application of zero-emission ships and attract more zero-emission ships to their domestic maritime trade routes.
