VIP Shipper Club story – Environmental Matters

ISSUE 4 / 2018

THE PUBLICATION FOR THE INDUSTRIAL PROJECT SUPPLY CHAIN INDUSTRY

ISSUE 4 / 2018

ENVIRONMENTAL MATTERS Regulatory Burdens to Define Sector

VIP SHIPPER CLUB MEMBERS:

GROUP SCM ................................................................................................. page 14 ABB ............................................................................................................................ page 14

COVER STORY

ENVIRONMENTAL MATTERS Regulatory Burdens to Define Sector

P

rotection of the environment has fast become the overarching aim of commercial business today, swayed, as it is, by ever-rigorous public opinion.

Witness the breakneck public backlash against plastic, resulting in the rapid disappearance of single-use plastic products: no more straws for your smoothies; home Tupperware needed for deli fill-ups; and the swansong for disposable cutlery at the weekend barbeque.

In the transportation and logistics industry, sustainability and, by extension protection, of the environment is primarily driven by regulation and is not optional. That regulatory focus has only intensified over the past few years, as green movements have captured the public’s imagination and pushed them to demand more of this industry.

Robust clean air legislation in U.S. states, most famously California, and European emission standards for trucks have already influenced the profile of the land-based, out-of-gauge moving equipment fleet in the developed world. But most recently the environmental focus has shifted to the seaborne fleet, a sector that was famously left out of the Paris Agreement on Climate Change, but has fought back to ensure that it does its bit for the environment. In April this year, the International Maritime Organisation’s Marine Environment Protection Committee, or MEPC, adopted an Initial Strategy for reducing greenhouse gas emissions from international shipping. While shipping is still far and away the most economical way to transport breakbulk and project cargoes worldwide, there is still a material cost to the environment that this new legislation hopes to address.

Speaking at Posidonia shipping week in Athens, Greece, in June, IMO Secretary General Kitack Lim said that he could not stress strongly enough how significant this agreement is. “For the first time, there is a clear policy commitment to a complete phaseout of greenhouse gas emissions from ships, a specific linkage to the Paris Agreement and a series of clear levels of ambition – including at least a 50 percent cut in emissions from the sector by 2050.”

He described it as a “landmark decision for both the environment and for human health,” demonstrating a clear commitment by the IMO to ensuring shipping meets its environmental obligations.

12 BREAKBULK MAGAZINE www.breakbulk.com

COSTLY CHALLENGES AHEAD

Roger Strevens, global head of sustainability at Wallenius Wilhelmsen, has watched the green drive escalate and noted to Breakbulk that shippers and ship operators can no longer cruise through “greening” operations.

“The low-hanging fruit of sustainability improvement have almost all been picked. What’s left are the thorny, difficult and costly challenges. These are becoming ever more impactful,” Strevens said. For example, ballast water regulation will be a driver of early recycling of some tonnage due to the high capital expenditure costs, while the global sulfur cap change marks the first time an environmental regulatory development becomes a commercial issue between shippers and carriers.

The issue for shipowners and managers is that the big game-changers on the near horizon for environmental planning and compliance represent expensive technologies and/ or resource-heavy solutions.

“In such a challenging market where carriers and shipowners are under so much pressure, it’s hard for them to consider such costs without immediate financial return,” said Ruben Oggel, managing director of Columbia Shipmanagement (Singapore).

CSM manages a large and diversified fleet, including multipurpose vessels, and bears what it describes as a “tremendous” weight of responsibility to meet high standards of regulation and compliance across the board. Last year it appointed an in-house project team to formally research the operational and financial impacts of compliance with the Ballast Water Management Convention through the analysis of the many technological systems on offer promising compliance.

Lim acknowledges that in many cases, shipowners will find they have more than one way to meet new regulations.

They might, for example, have to choose between retrofitting onboard systems or equipment, or radically changing operational procedures. And in some cases, even ending a ship’s economic lifetime early and investing in new ones.

There are also fuel quantity and quality issues to consider: how can multipurpose tramp operators ensure they can get sufficient compliant and quality fuel when and where needed?

“It’s tough enough for big liner operators who at least know where their vessels will be months in advance and can plan bunkering with dependable suppliers accordingly,” Strevens said.

ISSUE 4 / 2018

IMAGES VIA SHUTTERSTOCK; PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY CATHERINE DORROUGH

BY CARLY FIELDS

THE LOW-HANGING FRUIT OF SUSTAINABILITY IMPROVEMENT HAVE ALMOST ALL BEEN PICKED. WHAT’S LEFT ARE THE THORNY, DIFFICULT AND COSTLY CHALLENGES. THESE ARE BECOMING EVER MORE IMPACTFUL.” – Roger Strevens, Wallenius Wilhelmsen

www.breakbulk.com BREAKBULK MAGAZINE 13

COVER STORY

YOU NEED LOOK NO FURTHER THAN THE GROWING VOLUME OF RENEWABLE ENERGY CARGO BEING TRANSPORTED GLOBALLY. THE BALANCE OF POWER SEEMS TO HAVE MOVED SIGNIFICANTLY.” – Nicola Pacifico, AAL

CREDIT: AAL

DEEP-ROOTED SUSTAINABILITY

For shippers, protection of the environment goes beyond a simple box-checking exercise for public shareholders or for financials.

Group SCM starts its environmental compliance journey at the request for qualification process in its transport and logistics division. Matthieu Jeannin, category manager for logistics and warehousing activities at the group, includes environmental obligations in his qualification process for all vendors.

As a group, ABB has a baseline commitment to the environment, building greener ship propulsion units and investigating the feasibility of hybrid marine electric propulsion systems for semi-submersible heavy-lift vessels. On land, it has made a sizable sponsorship to the FIA Formula E Championship, a class of auto racing that uses only electricpowered cars.

Thomas Skellingsted, ABB vice president, global head heavy-lift and project operations, added that the manufacturer is also developing better battery capacity and storage for electric units, plus it is looking into solar panels and how it can better optimize the sun’s power.

Multipurpose vessel operator AAL notes the increased “green” cargo being carried on its ships.

Nicola Pacifico, head of transport engineering at AAL, said: “You need look no further than the growing volume of renewable energy cargo being transported globally and the multiplication of manufacturing hubs for giant wind energy components – literally on every continent. Even taking into 14 BREAKBULK MAGAZINE www.breakbulk.com

account the slowdown in oil and gas sector projects due to global price instability, the balance of power seems to have moved significantly.”

ABB also measures carbon dioxide and emissions and requires green key performance indicators from its suppliers on a quarterly basis as part of its supplier qualification. Skellingsted said that the output ABB receives varies greatly: “It’s a rain forest; sometimes they don’t even know what the KPIs [key performance indicators] are. But we are getting there.”

Skellingsted adds that ABB wants to make the world a better and greener place to live in and is content to take on a mentoring role in that respect.

AAL, too, takes its environmental responsibilities seriously and couples education with technology to optimize ocean transportation to ensure the longevity of the sector and the wider environment.

“We believe that investing in education of our excellent sea and land-based personnel together with continuous research and development will provide AAL with many more environmental engineering solutions for a better future,” Pacifico said.

ONLY THE BRAVE

Pacifico also sees a silver lining in the demands of environmental shipping legislation: “The compliance with cost-heavy and upcoming IMO environment protection regulations, like ballast water management and the 2020 sulfur emissions cap, could, most likely, be a reason for the global ISSUE 4 / 2018

A PORT AS BIG AS TEXAS They say everything’s bigger in Texas and as the largest breakbulk port in North America, offering over 20,000 feet of docking space and capacity to accommodate cargo of 1,000 pounds per square foot, Port Houston is ready to accommodate all types of bigger-than-life cargo.

The 52 general cargo and heavy-lift City Docks have put Houston at the pinnacle of industry rankings for steel and project cargo. It’s true everything is bigger in Texas... Better too. Call or visit us online to learn more about Port Houston, The International Port of Texas.

PortHouston.com • 713-670-2400

COVER STORY

HIGH-PROFILE INVASIVE SPECIES

Pictured clockwise from top left: ASIAN GREEN MUSSEL Native to: Asia Introduced to: Caribbean, South Atlantic, South Pacific Fouls hydrotechnical constructions, ships and aquaculture infrastructure.

EUROPEAN FAN WORM Native to: Northeast Atlantic, Mediterranean Introduced to: Southwest Atlantic, Southern Australia, New Zealand, Northwest Pacific Forms dense, mat-like populations on the sea floor. Competes with native filter feeders and fouls artificial structures.

NORTH PACIFIC SEA STAR Native to: Northwest Pacific Introduced to: Northeast Pacific, Southern Australia Voracious carnivorous feeders and prolific breeders, they impact mollusc aquaculture and wild fisheries.

EUROPEAN GREEN CRAB Native to: Northeast Atlantic and Baltic Sea Introduced to: North America, Australia Preys on molluscs and gastropods, and out-competes native species for food.

Other high-profile invasive species include – but are not limited to – Asian paddle crabs, colonial tunicates, blackstriped mussels, bay barnacles, wakame seaweed, and European shore crab. Pathogens, including cholera, can also be transported by ships.

MPV fleet to shrink, as scrapping will have to take place probably sooner than planned for many of the very old vessels, as it just won’t make economic sense to bring them up to scratch.”

Newbuilds – many on hold due to the uncertainty of the regulations and questions on fuel availability – will replace the old fleet, but this will likely take many years and will require a global market recovery to be sustainable.

“We at AAL, can foresee a period in between where all the major players in the world industry will opt for a natural selection of ships to comply with their environmental commitments and responsibilities similar to what was done before for the offshore [sector] with the Offshore Vessel Inspection Database, for example. AAL is ready for that moment to come.”

However, with each shipowner setting its own investment horizon, this ultimately dictates the potential uptake and investment in these expensive greener technologies.

“A shipowner with a short-term view is chasing immediate and higher profits – so will naturally be reticent to invest in the future,” Oggel said. “On the other hand, someone with a 20-year outlook is far more willing to make investments that will benefit them and the market longer-term.”

But environmental considerations do not need to be diametrically opposed to economic interests, Strevens notes.

“We’d maintain that if you’re doing it right, they’re one and the same thing.” Take, for example, in-water hull cleaning systems, he explained. A clean hull reduces all emissions to air, mitigates an invasive species risk – if the cleaning system captures what it removes – and avoids fuel over-consumption. “It’s surprising that these systems aren’t better known given the benefits they offer.”

MORE SURPRISES TO COME

There may also be more environment-related surprises on the horizon. On top of its ambitious GHG emission targets, the IMO has specified 13 candidate measures that its MEPC Committee will consider for implementation in the short term. On that list, Strevens points to three that focus on the vessel owner/operator: tweaking the Energy Efficiency Design Index – which will likely only affect new vessels; operational efficiency levels; and speed-related measures.

“Speed may seem like a deceptively straightforward regulatory tool, but in reality it’s anything but,” he said.

“To begin with, what do we actually mean when we talk about reduced speed: speed on the water or over land. Then there are the policy issues. For example, in the interests of fairness it might seem that percentage speed reduction should be applied across a given segment, however that would affect inefficient and efficient vessels in the same way – hardly a desirable outcome.

“Whatever measures are adopted, it can be safely concluded that they will be impactful. If they include speedrelated measures, there is the very real prospect of changing the service the industry offers its customers. That’d be another big first for environmental regulation,” Strevens said. “In the face of such tumult, we believe the best and only approach is to engage in both innovation and the regulatory process. Nothing else can better help with anticipating what’s coming.”

Source: International Maritime Organization, IMO.com IMAGES VIA SHUTTERSTOCK

16 BREAKBULK MAGAZINE www.breakbulk.com

Carly Fields has reported on the shipping industry for the past 18 years, covering bunkers and broking and much in between.

ISSUE 4 / 2018

Strategically Located Year-Round Port Richard J. Hendrick, Sr General Manager

Georgette Steffens,

A .-1.. ďż˝

Chairperson Board ofConvnissioners

PORT OF ALBANY When it comes to heavy lift, project & overdimensional cargo, However you measure

We Measure Up!

Albany Port District Commission 518/463-8763 Fax: 518/463-8767 rhendrick@portofalbany.us

Dockside Heavy Lift Rail Heavy Lift& Project Cargo Specialists Ample Open storage 300,000 Square Feet of Spriri<lered Inside storage Served By CSX & Canad an Pacific Railroads Less Than One Mile to Interstate Highways 87& 90 Reliable and Experienced Stevedoring

Stevedore and Terminal Operator Federal Marine Terminals, Inc. 518/463-0237 Fax: 518/463-0238 bring@fedmar.com

www .PortofAlbany. us

Business Development & Marketing Manager Tony Vasil 518/463-8763 Fax: 518/463-8767 tvasil@portofalbany.us

I

COVER STORY

ANSWERING SHIP RECYCLING QUESTIONS It is no longer acceptable to hide behind corporate veils or plead ignorance when it comes to meeting environmental responsibilities – in fact, it hasn’t been acceptable for quite some time. Yet, there are still industry practices that have avoided undue scrutiny.

Multipurpose vessel, auto carrier and heavy-lift ship recycling is one such area.

At the time of chartering an MPV fresh out of the shipyard, blue-chip shippers might be forgiven for not considering the end-of-life choices for that particular ship. After all, that could take place another 15-20 years after the move has finished. But investors, lenders and some shippers are starting to pay more attention to practices where regulation is weak, including ship recycling.

“Some kinds of recycling have horrifying social and environmental consequences,” explained Roger Strevens, global head of sustainability at Wallenius Wilhelmsen. “A small, but growing, number of stakeholders do not want to be associated with carriers that engage

in ‘bad beaching.’ ” The trend towards greater transparency is partially driving this effect.

In the breakbulk sector, blue-chip shippers will likely soon start asking to evaluate a carrier’s policy for ship recycling – even if they are chartering a brand new ship. Recycling of a vessel can be done in a responsible way or it can be done in a truly irresponsible way with levels in between.

“Our world is changing very fast,” Strevens said. “Customers want low price and transparency on performance and very clear, strong lines of dialogue on what you are doing to look out for our interests on the environment.”

He points to the newly launched Ship Recycling Transparency Initiative as a case in point. In March 2018, a group of shipowners, investors and non-governmental organizations launched the initiative to help stakeholders take informed decisions in relation to carriers’ recycling policies, practices and performance. The initiative is backed by Forum for the Future, the Sustainable Shipping Initiative, and a number of leading shipping firms, including Wallenius

Wilhelmsen. The program encourages the voluntary disclosure of detailed ship recycling data by shipowners to ensure financial stakeholders, shipping operators, and cargo owners are better informed about how ships are processed at the end of their working life.

“We have been recycling our vessels in a environmentally and socially responsible way for many years, so we are pleased to raise the matter with customers. After all, transparency in recycling is strongly in their interests.” Strevens said.

As more breakbulk shippers get on board, recycling transparency will become an industry de-facto requirement. Multipurpose vessel operators will then need to ensure that they have a responsible recycling policy in place, or risk losing the business. BB

TOP: Shipbreakers in Mumbai, India, make breaking points on the hull of a vessel. ABOVE: Workers carry an iron plate that weighs several hundred pounds. / CREDIT: PICTURE ALLIANCE / MARCO BECHER / NEWSCOM 18 BREAKBULK MAGAZINE www.breakbulk.com

ISSUE 4 / 2018

d ou Pr LN GP M r be em e nc Si 20 10

4 00

2 t.

Es

Membership Available in Selective Markets!

Application: info@gpln.net / www.gpln.net

Breakbulk VIP Shipper Club is an invitation-only membership program for project owners and developers, EPCs, manufacturers of industrial equipment, oil & gas service companies, energy firms, chemicals producers, mining companies and metals producers.

The club is a central hub for all those who are involved in projects that require oversized cargo. For nearly three decades, Breakbulk events have brought shippers together with service providers to forge a reliable industrial supply chain.

Members may grow their positions as thought leaders to the industry by participating as panelists at Breakbulk events, serve as mentors in our Education Day programs to help encourage the next generation of leaders, and offer insight and guidance as editorial resources for Breakbulk Magazine.

There is no fee for membership in Breakbulkâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s VIP Shipper Club and all members receive free admission to Breakbulk events around the world â&#x20AC;&#x201C; in Houston, Dubai, Shanghai and Bremen.

To apply for membership, visit breakbulk.com/vip-shipper-club