Melbourne: While conceding there is “still more pain to come” with record numbers of new vessels being delivered, the boss of third party ship vetting specialist RightShip maintains owners of well-run, efficient vessels have “a better chance of selection when the charterer is spoilt for choice”.
Last October’s decision by Cargill, the world’s largest charterer of bulk carriers, Huntsman Corporation, a chemicals giant and Unipec UK, a division of China’s largest oil trader, to only charter the more efficient vessels operating in the shipping market has clearly had a big impact on the minds of shipowners.
The three companies charter over 350m tonnes of commodities annually and are now using the Existing Vessel Design Index (EVDI), created by RightShip.
Warwick Norman, ceo of RightShip, acknowledged the change in mindset among owners, telling Maritime CEO: “Measuring the environmental efficiency of the existing fleet is becoming increasingly important to our customers.”
He also said RightShip was finding that terminals are also interested in its Greenhouse Gas Emissions Rating as a mechanism to encourage more efficient vessels and financial institutions are looking at it as a way of reducing their risk by financing more energy efficient vessels. [28/01/13]
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