London: Charterers representing 20% of global shipped tonnage now have policies in place to avoid using the most inefficient ships based on the GHG Emissions Rating. Among them, the Mosaic Company, one of the world’s largest producers and marketers of concentrated phosphate and potash crop nutrients, has just shared its policies on chartering ships using the GHG Emissions Rating, and the resulting positive business impacts.
In the past two and a half years, usage of the GHG Emissions Rating and the A to G scale has increased by more than 450%, from 350m shipped tonnes when Cargill, Huntsman, and Unipec began their usage to 1.95bn shipped tonnes today.
The GHG Emissions Rating is a tool developed by RightShip and Carbon War Room, a nonprofit founded by Sir Richard Branson.
Warwick Norman, ceo at RightShip, commented, “We congratulate the Mosaic Company on their decision to exclude the most inefficient vessels from their supply chain. This is a timely reminder of how organisations such as Mosaic are adopting market-led solutions like the GHG Emissions Rating to reduce CO2 emissions, leaving industry bodies in their wake in the fight against climate change.”
For example, the Mosaic Company, which charters around 130 vessels annually, now excludes all G-rated vessels for international shipping and uses the GHG Emissions Rating as a guide for calculating and reporting its maritime carbon footprint.
Jeff Erikson, director of global projects at Carbon War Room, commented, “The increasing use of energy-efficiency data in chartering decisions is widening the gap between new ecoships and the existing fleet. With some charterers stating they would consider paying a premium for eco-efficient ships, inefficient ships will become increasingly unmarketable. We see current, low bunker fuel prices as an opportunity to get ahead of the market and can help owners find the financing to retrofit their vessels.”
A good article. I am interested in the context of such programmes- which have been launched during times of dismal drybulk freight markets. In a stronger freight market, when charterers might not have their pick of available vessels, how would vessel efficiency be balanced against the need to move a cargo? Also, in the scheme described here, is there a one to one correspondence where an A vessels gets (for example) $1.00/tonne more, a B vessel gets (for example) $0.75/tonne more, etc etc?