Imo Mepc News

The European Commission's recommendation for the EU's 2040 climate targets, calling for a 90% net GHG emission reduction, are ambitious and critically important, especially following updates suggesting that EU 2030 goals may not be met, says the World Shipping Council (WSC).The climate targets point to the importance of providing renewable marine fuels for maritime sector decarbonization. Committing the EU to production of zero-GHG fuel pathways is essential, not least because European Member States account for one-fifth of global shipping energy sales…

When discussing ship design, the maritime industry has been tossing around a number of new terms and definitions. Sustainability, alternative fuel “ready”, digitization and lifecycle are a few of the terms becoming more commonplace amid the industry’s search for zero emissions solutions. As IMO MEPC 80 meetings push emissions reduction to meet “well to wake” requirements, we will learn much of the challenge is tied to energy and infrastructure ashore. Electrification and the development…

Many problems in our “New World” can be solved more quickly than ever due to the speed at which information now travels. Gone are the countless long days of research, because often our questions can be answered instantaneously at a computer terminal or on a handheld mobile device. Traditional investment, research, science and industry have all attempted to reconfigure their business practices to accept that information speed. Unfortunately, government regulation and bureaucracy have not…

RWO has been selected by KiwiRail to supply its next-generation advanced water treatment system - the CleanSewage Membrane Reactor (CS-MBR) – to New Zealand’s Inter-Island Resilient Connection Project (iReX).Two custom-built Interislander ROPAX ferries have been ordered to service the connection between Wellington and Picton. Environmental protection is a key priority for the project, and both vessels, which are being built at Korean shipyard Hyundai Mipo Dockyard (HMD), will…

Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) officer, Tan Hanqiang, currently First Secretary (Maritime), High Commission of the Republic of Singapore to the United Kingdom (UK), has been appointed by the International Maritime Organization (IMO) as Vice-Chair of the IMO Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC) with effective December 16, 2022. Tan succeeds Harry Conway (Liberia).This marks the first time a Singaporean has assumed the Vice-Chair appointment for the IMO MEPC in more than 20 years. Previously, an MPA Officer, Mr Zafrul Alam, served as Vice-Chair for IMO MEPC from 1999 to 2000.

In the first of its kind for a shipyard, DNV has awarded a Statement of Fact (SoF) to Samsung Heavy Industries (SHI) for applying blockchain technology to its own SAS (Samsung Autonomous Ship) and SVESSEL eLogbook data streams on an operating vessel.The project was accomplished by interfacing SHI’s data stream and eLogbook with the VeChainThor blockchain to demonstrate the technology’s potential for secure data stream applications on ships.The blockchain application for the SHI data stream pertains to Samsung Autonomous Ship’s navigation information…

RWO recently completed two installations of its next-gen advanced water treatment system (AWTS); the CleanSewage Membrane Reactor (CS-MBR), for Celebrity Cruises. The sewage treatment plant on the Celebrity Solstice-class vessels, Celebrity Silhouette and Celebrity Reflection, have been upgraded to the CS-MBR system, with an additional three orders placed to complete the fleet-wide upgrade.RWO’s CS-MBR is a sustainable biological treatment technology that has been designed to minimize a vessel’s impact on the environment…

Finnish marine technology manufacturer Langh Tech Oy Ab said it has received the International Maritime Organization (IMO) Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC) type approval certificate for its LanghBW ballast water management system (BWMS) on May 12, 2022. The type approval project was carried out in cooperation with classification society DNV.The LanghBW BWMS uses fine filtration and UV-C treatment. According to the manufacturer, a unique feature is its ability to…

The technology group Wärtsilä has launched a new series of power limitation solutions that enable compliance with the IMO’s Energy Efficiency Existing Ship Index (EEXI) regulation.The EEXI regulation comes into effect in 2023 and stipulates the minimum energy efficiency level for existing ships already in service. According to Wärtsilä, its new power limitation systems allow owners to meet this requirement, despite the tight implementation schedule. Wärtsilä’s environmental offering…

Seri Everest, the first in a series of three 98,000 cbm Very Large Ethane Carriers (VLECs) built at Samsung Heavy Industries Co., Ltd. (SHI) and delivered to MISC Berhad on October 30, 2020. Seri Everest is the first from a series of six VLECs that MISC purchased in July 2020. As a second generation VLEC, Seri Everest is one of the largest vessels of its kind in the world.With the delivery of MISC’s first VLEC – Seri Everest, she has set a new benchmark in the ethane market. Seri Everest has the capacity of transporting ethane in large volumes over long distances…

The world's principal shipping organisation, representing around 80% of the world’s merchant tonnage, International Chamber of Shipping (ICS)  remains confident that shipping will improve its carbon efficiency by at least 40% by 2030 compared to 2008, in line with the UN International Maritime Organization (IMO) targets to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. This follows important decisions made by the IMO Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC 74) which met in London this week, said a press release from the world’s national shipowner association.ICS Secretary General, Guy Platten said: “We welcome the adoption of important new IMO regulations to strengthen and bring forward the application of the Energy Efficiency Design Index for several different types of new build vessel…

Trident Alliance, the shipping industry initiative for robust enforcement of maritime sulphur regulations in the interest of the environment, called for adoption without delay of IMO carriage ban for fuel with sulphur content over 0.5%, as a means for the successful implementation of the 2020 sulphur cap.At MEPC 73 in October IMO Member States must formally adopt the carriage ban on non-compliant fuels for implementation in 2020, as it is a fundamental tool for securing strong global enforcement, it said.The entry into force date of the 2020 global 0.50% sulphur cap is set in stone. From the 1st of January 2020 the maximum permissible…

Tokyo-based Nippon Kaiji Kyokai, or ClassNK as it is more commonly known, is one of the world's leading classification societies with 9,104 ships representing 250 million gt under register, as of June 2018. We spoke with Koichi Fujiwara, Chairman, ClassNK, earlier this year in Tokyo for his overview of the market today, and the path forward on technological trends.While Koichi Fujiwara, like many of his colleagues, sees challenging times in the maritime market, he does note that conditions are improving…

European shipowners strongly believe that the environmental committee of the IMO, MEPC, can reach an ambitious initial CO2 reduction strategy by the end of this week, building on the results of the meeting of the intersessional working group of last week. Realising that governments have to take and give during the negotiations, which will not be easy and requires courage to do, European Community Shipowners' Associations (ECSA) is confident that ultimately all governments will realise that a deal has to be made. A deal based on the ambitious European approach, taking into account legitimate concerns of developing countries and of countries threatened in their existence by a rising sea level, is in the opinion of ECSA possible and necessary.

ACO Marine has appointed a new distributor in Canada to help meet increasing demand in the region for wastewater treatment solutions capable of exceeding stringent environmental protection requirements. Ontario-based Marine and Offshore (MAO) Canada will provide sales and technical  support across ACO Marine’s range of products, including the MEPC227(64) compliant Clarimar MF and Maripur NF biological sewage treatment plants. Roger McNeill, Managing Director, Marine and Offshore Canada, said: “We are very much looking forward to representing ACO Marine in Canada.

The European Parliament voted in favour of  the inclusion of  CO2 emissions from shipping in the EU Emission Trading Scheme (ETS) and the establishment of a maritime climate fund “in the absence of progress at international level” as from 2023. Climate change being a global challenge and shipping being a global industry, ESPO strongly believes that IMO is by far the right place to introduce CO2 target and measures to reduce emissions from shipping in line with the Paris Agreement. In that respect, ESPO believes that the roadmap agreed at the IMO MEPC meeting last October is a starting point for the discussions. On the basis of available scientific evidence…

The IMO’s MEPC 70 proposals for a marine fuels sulfur cap of 0.5% to be in place by 2020 have attracted severe criticism from several major stakeholders in the maritime sector, including the International Bunker Industry Association, the organization that defends the interests of bunker fuel suppliers. The IBIA has stated that several unknowns remain about the proposed limit and has asked whether assumed global capacity will translate into actual marine market supply in 2020: “Will refiners produce suitable fuels, and what will these fuels look like?

International Maritime Organization (IMO) Secretary-General Kitack Lim joined Ministers responsible for shipping from various EU States and other countries to discuss the future of shipping, at a conference in Valletta, Malta. Speaking at the High Level Ministerial Stakeholder Conference on Maritime Affairs, Mr. Lim highlighted IMO’s key role as the global regulator for international shipping . He emphasized the importance of the industry for future sustainable development around the world, and that the key to this will be the roadmap, agreed at IMO’s MEPC 70 meeting last October, to consider and develop a comprehensive IMO Strategy for the reduction of GHG emissions from ships.

De Nora, a manufacturer of electrolyzers, electrodes, coatings, electrochemical and water treatment technologies, has announced the debut of the all new OMNIPURE Series 64 sewage treatment systems. The OMNIPURE Series 64 system is the newest and most advanced offshore marine sanitation devices. The easy to operate system offers minimal maintenance, simplified operations, compact design, and a completely hands off solids management process that is compliant with International Maritime Organization (IMO) standards. The OMNIPURE Series 64 system has received Type Certification to IMO MEPC 64 (227) by Bureau Veritas (BV). “Far different from other systems on the market…

Members of the International Chamber of Shipping (ICS), including the UK Chamber, met last week in Istanbul, where they agreed to set new objectives in reducing carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from shipping. To reduce international shipping’s total annual CO2 emissions by an agreed percentage by 2050, compared to 2008, as a point on a continuing trajectory of CO2 emissions reduction. The objectives aim to match the ambition of the Paris Agreement on climate change, while keeping CO2 reduction in the hands of the shipping industry itself with the IMO as its regulator. The ICS will suggest that IMO should adopt these objectives as part of its initial CO2 reduction strategy to be agreed in 2018, following the adoption of an IMO Roadmap at the request of the industry in 2016.

Insufficient liquidity has led Norwegian ballast water treatment system manufacturer OceanSaver to file for bankruptcy. The company’s board of directors filed a petition to dissolve the company on September 13. Established in 2003, OceanSaver was among the first suppliers to be approved by IMO in 2008 and obtained USCG type approval in December 2016. However, OceanSaver said it faced “significant downward pressure on equipment prices,” brought on by continued low shipbuilding activity as well as IMO’s MEPC 71 July decision to push back deadlines for ship owners to retrofit ballast water treatment systems. Also in July, the company lost a four-year arbitration against filter maker Bollfilter, which forced the company to pay all arbitration costs and both parties’ legal fees.

Norway’s IMS group AS announced it has signed a purchase agreement with the OceanSaver Trustee to acquire the ballast water treatment system manufacturer’s intellectual property, certificates and assets following its bankruptcy filed on September 13, 2017. OceanSaver had sold approximately 200 ballast water treatment systems and was among the first suppliers to be approved by IMO, to successfully complete the stringent test regime by the U.S. Coast Guard and to obtain a USCG type approval in December 2016. However, “insufficient liquidity” led OceanSaver to file for bankruptcy after facing “significant downward pressure on equipment prices…

An important milestone on the road to controlling greenhouse gas emissions from international shipping has been achieved with the adoption of new mandatory requirements by the industry’s regulatory authority, the International Maritime Organization (IMO). Under the new requirements, ships of 5,000 gross tonnage and above will have to collect consumption data for each type of fuel oil they use, as well as other, additional, specified data including proxies for transport work. These ships account for approximately 85% of CO2 emissions from international shipping. The data collected will provide a firm basis on which future decisions on additional measures, over and above those already adopted by IMO, can be made.