The Push for "Green" Ships will Keep Ocean Freight Costs High
Ocean freight costs are likely to remain high in 2022 as investors and regulators scramble to accelerate decarbonization of the shipping industry and companies grapple with green financing, sources say.Shipping, which transports about 90% of world trade and accounts for nearly 3% of the world's CO2 emissions, is under growing pressure from environmentalists to deliver more concrete action including a carbon levy.The International Maritime Organization (IMO), the UN's specialist shipping agency…
Global Shipping in Crosshairs as Environmental Scrutiny Deepens
Ocean freight costs are likely to remain high in 2022 as investors and regulators scramble to accelerate decarbonization of the shipping industry and companies grapple with green financing, sources say.Shipping, which transports about 90% of world trade and accounts for nearly 3% of the world's CO2 emissions, is under growing pressure from environmentalists to deliver more concrete action including a carbon levy.The International Maritime Organization (IMO), the UN's specialist shipping agency…
ClassNK Verifies NSU's GHG Emissions
Classification society ClassNK said it has conducted a third-party verification of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from the entire value chain—including Scope 3 emissions—of shipping company NS United Kaiun Kaisha (NSU) and issued a GHG verification statement.While efforts to build a decarbonized society are being accelerated such as through strengthened GHG reduction targets in various countries and with the progress of sustainable finance, a framework for assessing GHG emissions has also been introduced to International Maritime Organization (IMO) regulations.
EU Green Finance Rules Leaky for Ships
Months of EU deliberation to decide which business activities can be marketed as green investments have produced a set of draft standards some finance officials and NGOs say are lax for the polluting shipping sector and challenging for buildings.In other cases, they strike a fair balance, they say.As the European Union pursues regulation to try to deliver the 2015 Paris Agreement on climate change, a powerful tool in channeling funding over the coming decades will be its financial taxonomy - in other words…
Klaveness Lines Up Sustainability-linked Newbuild Financing
Norwegian shipping company Klaveness Combination Carriers (KCC) said it has secured a $60 million sustainability-linked term loan and revolving credit facility for the financing of the seventh and eighth CLEANBU vessels with delivery in 2021, reportedly a first within the maritime industry. Nordea is acting as coordinator and bookrunner and Credit Agricole CIB as sustainability agent.The credit margin will be adjusted, up or down, based on KCC’s sustainability performance, as…
Quantum Pacific: $40m 'Green Loan' for Scrubbers
Singapore-based Quantum Pacific Shipping (QPS) has received a loan from BNP Paribas to finance the purchase and installation of exhaust gas cleaning systems on its vessels.The loan up to $40 million is arranged on Quantum Pacific’s behalf by its management company Eastern Pacific."BNP Paribas is the lender, agent and security trustee for the Green Loan, which finances the cost of purchasing and installing marine exhaust gas cleaning systems (Scrubbers) for 16 vessels under the QPS fleet," said a press note from Quantum Pacific Shipping.A Green Loan Framework has been prepared in conjunction with the bilateral Green Loan, and the framework…
Financiers Turning the Tide on Shipbreaking Practices
The shipping industry has long been criticised by campaigners for allowing vessels to be broken up on beaches, endangering workers and polluting the sea and sand. Now, it is being called to account from a quarter that may have a bit more clout - its financial backers. Norway's $1 trillion Oil Fund, a leader in ethical investing, in February sold its stake in four firms because they scrap on the beach. Three of the firms excluded by Norway's fund - Taiwan's Evergreen Marine, Precious Shipping and Thoresen Thai Agencies (TTA) of Thailand - say they have been unfairly singled out.
Greek Shipowners Yet to See Light at End of the Tunnel
The Greek Shipowners Union Report 2012-2013 notes that shipowners faced a double-whammy as Greece faced the most severe crisis in its national economy, which coincided with one of the deepest crises in the endemic cyclical nature of international shipping. "The international shipping downturn has not only been deep but also long in its duration due to three major factors: the reduction of cargo volumes transported, the overcapacity of tonnage, and theinability of the credit system internationally to provide sustainable finance.
