GHG Abatement Potential Due to the Implementation of Slow Steaming

Abstract

All branches of industry as well as the maritime transport industry are encountering the challenge of reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions to pre-vent hazardous climate change. The ratification of the Paris agreement has set a restrain for global average temperature significantly lower than 2 °C and preferably restrains the growth to 1.5 °C compared to preindustrial levels. Therefore, International Maritime Organization (IMO) has imposed an aim to decrease carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions per transport work by a minimum of 40 % by 2030 and to 70 % by 2050 compared to 2008. IMO has proposed various short-term, mid-term, and long-term measures for accomplishing this aim. Speed reduction i.e., slow steaming is a crucial short-term measure, that can be effortlessly implemented, and does not depend upon any supplementary infrastructure. Even a slight speed reduction will lead to substantial fuel reduction and therefore substantial CO2 abatement considering the hypothesis that ship speed and fuel oil consumption are related with the cubic function. The implementation of slow steaming leads to a larger voyage time and consequently to a larger number of ships to attain yearly transport work constant. Therefore, it is essential to analyse the increase in fuel oil consumption and CO2 emissions due to the larger number of ships engaged in maritime transport. This paper provides an extensive review of slow steaming and GHG abatement potential and points out the disadvantages of its application.