Shipping to get ratings on energy efficiency

Dec. 7, 2010 - PRLog -- Richard Branson set up a free internet database yesterday that will list the energy efficiency of almost every ocean-going vessel, in a scheme designed to reduce shipping carbon emissions by nearly 25%. The energy efficiency database will use publicly available data on the engine size and carbon emissions of nearly 60,000 ships, exporters and importers, as well as holidaymakers on cruises.

The energy efficiency database called Shippingefficiency.org, rates ships from A-G in a similar fashion to ratings given to fridges or washing machines. It will allow supermarkets, oil and mining companies, food importers, retailers and manufacturers to specify that their goods are sent from places like China or Australia only by the least polluting ships. Britain is expected to be one of the heaviest users of the energy efficiency database, as it does import most of its food and manufactured goods by sea.

Shipping contributes around 1bn tonnes of carbon emissions a year, about 3-4% of the world's total. This makes it collectively the sixth largest carbon polluter in the world. However, shipping has been slow to address carbon emissions.

The world fleet has been driven for years by engines designed to burn the cheapest, dirtiest "bunker" fuel. Currently, nearly 15% of the world's ships account for about half of all the industry carbon emissions. In addition, most shipping lines traditionally pass on most of the fuel costs to charterers, providing little incentives to build more efficient ships.

Under the new energy efficiency ratings, the biggest ships in the world range from the most to the least efficient. The lowest score, G, goes to the mighty Aegean, a giant crude oil tanker built nearly 40 years ago, and the massive Allure of the Seas – launched last week and officially the largest cruise liner in the world – is an F.

The energy efficiency database, which relies on information supplied by the UN and international ship registers, includes the majority of the world's container ships, tankers, bulk carriers, cargo ships, cruise liners and ferries. Ships are compared by class not sizes. However, the database does not cover warships, some of the least efficient fuel users in the world. The energy efficiency database is expected to be used by ports to offer incentives to clean ships, as well as to shipowners and designers.

Shipping and aviation are not obliged by international law to reduce their carbon emissions as countries are. This is expected to change but depends on climate change talks taking place at the Cancún Summit.

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