Page 107 - ΝΑΥΤΙΚΑ ΧΡΟΝΙΚΑ - ΜΑΙΟΣ 2023

During the transition phase, the industry is reluctant in its majority to
adopt hybrid solutions and, demonstrating an inherent inertia, continues
using HFO. This is evident from most MARTECMA members voting for CO₂
capture options to reduce the CO₂ footprint further. However, even these
technologies are in the development stage and require a considerable
amount of energy.
LNG is just a transition fuel whose use will decline significantly if not elim-
inated by the end of the century. Although LNG has a marginally superior
well-to-wake CO₂ footprint than HFO, it is currently the only alternative
fuel with which the industry is more familiar and has the best-developed
supply infrastructure. Nevertheless, the high techno-economics and geo-
political uncertainty factors make the decision to adopt it even more dif-
ficult.

19% of the participants believe that using LNG as a fuel will persist even after the
end of the century. In your opinion, what are the uncertainty factors leading to
this particular claim?
In the absence of any other viable alternative fuel solutions, LNG is cur-
rently the only option. However, being marginally superior to HFO in terms
of well-to-wake CO₂ footprint, and having a considerably inferior energy
density than HFO, make it only a transitionary option towards the 2030 &
2050 environmental targets. Furthermore, geopolitical uncertainty factors
may influence the availability and price of LNG in a totally unpredictable
manner, making the techno-economic evaluation and decision about its
adoption in an NB even more difficult.

A small percentage of the survey participants consider ETS the most effective
measure in enforcing the reduction of the environmental footprint of European
shipping. What are the hurdles to the successful implementation of ETS?
Theoretically, a global ETS would be an effective measure to enforce envi-
ronmental footprint reduction. However, such a system, ideally imposed
at the IMO level for better effectiveness, would require common inter-
pretation at the national level and, most importantly, a common entity for
collecting and managing the money collected and investing it in research
into alternative CO₂-neutral fuel solutions.

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