Page 102 - ΝΑΥΤΙΚΑ ΧΡΟΝΙΚΑ - ΜΑΙΟΣ 2023

GREEN SHIPPING

Mr Christos Hadjigeorgiou answers the million-dollar question about the barriers to
adopting new technologies on ships. He also discusses the possibility that LNG will
persist beyond the end of the century.

THE

GREATEST CHALLENGE

IS THE LACK OF FOCUS

Although initiatives focused on developing emission reduction tech-
nologies are increasing dramatically, the survey findings indicate that
industry experts consider it doubtful that any such technology will be
widely adopted by 2050. What are the main challenges standing in the
way of developing such solutions, and what is a realistic timeframe for
their widespread adoption in shipping?
The so-called “emission reduction technologies” can be
split into two broad categories, one that deals with the
effects of using fossil fuels, such as carbon capture and
storage/use and the other that deals with reducing power
requirements.
The first category is expected to be widely accepted, as it
will allow the use of fossil fuels for much longer, particu-
larly if acceptable, realistic alternatives are not developed.
The second category falls, until now, under the methods of
“marketing” ideas that have some effect but no real impact.
For example, through the EEDI regulatory framework, the
IMO is pushing for a continuous reduction of ship powering
requirements. However, some of these technologies will
possibly be used by designers and shipyards on a large
scale to meet future EEDI requirements.
The greatest challenge is the lack of focus. Multimillion
ideas are floating in the air, with some very large compa-
nies testing some of them to include them in their ESG
reports, investigate whether any real benefit can be ascer-
by Christos Hadjigeorgiou, tained, or both. This lack of focus is probably due to the
Managing Director method used, i.e., setting the target but not the method
at Almi Marine Management SA
to achieve it.

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