First they came for the maintenance and the whisky...

[newtothis]

...now they're coming for the donk. The minister is doing a good job of looking busy in the face of a failing flag and dying sector. Might be time to stock up on electric outboards.

AMBITIOUS TARGETS TO CUT SHIPPING EMISSIONS

• Zero-emission capable ships to be in UK waters by 2025
• Competition launched to spark innovation in clean maritime technology
• Clean Maritime Plan part of long-term strategy to keep UK as world leader in maritime sector
All new ships for UK waters ordered from 2025 should be designed with zero-emission capable technologies, in ambitious plans set out by Maritime Minister Nusrat Ghani to cut pollution from the country’s maritime sector.
The commitment is set out in the Clean Maritime Plan published today. The government is also looking at ways to incentivise the transition to zero-emission shipping and will consult on this next year.
The plan also includes a £1 million competition to find innovative ways to reduce maritime emissions and is published alongside a call for evidence to reduce emissions on UK waterways and domestic vessels.
The Clean Maritime Plan is part of the Government’s Clean Air Strategy, which aims to cut down air pollution across all sectors to protect public health and the environment. It will also help deliver the United Kingdom’s commitment to be net zero on greenhouse gases by 2050.
Maritime Minister Nusrat Ghani said:
“Our maritime sector is vital to the success of the UK’s economy, but it must do everything it can to reduce emissions, improve air quality and tackle climate change.
“The Clean Maritime Plan sets an ambitious vision for the sector and opens up exciting opportunities for innovation. It will help make the UK a global hub for new green technologies in the maritime sector.”
The maritime sector has already taken significant strides to reduce emissions – hybrid ferries are already being used in UK waters, including in the Scottish islands and on cross-Solent journeys to the Isle of Wight. The Port of London Authority – where the Maritime Minister launched the Plan today – also uses hybrid vessels.
Sarah Kenny, Chief Executive of BMT Group and representing the Mari-UK consortium, said:
“The Clean Maritime Plan is an important step towards achieving a zero-emission future for the UK. Getting to net zero will not be easy, but it will present significant opportunities as well as the obvious challenges for all parts of our £40bn maritime sector. Maritime is already the greenest way of moving freight, but we can and must do more to reduce emissions.
“The good news is that the UK is well-placed to not only decarbonise our own economy, but also to share our expertise and capability with the rest of the world as they, too, embark on this most global of missions.
“For the first time, companies and universities from across the country have come together to collaborate through MarRI-UK, accelerating the UK’s maritime technological capabilities, particularly on decarbonisation.
“The key ingredient to realising our clean maritime ambitions is collaboration. Between companies, academia and with government. Today’s plan and government’s broader Maritime 2050 strategy, crafted with Maritime UK, provides a framework to do just that.”
Guidance has also today been issued to ports to assist them in developing air quality strategies. This will both address their own operations and support improving air quality across the country.
Tim Morris, chief executive of the UK Major Ports Group and member of the Clean Maritime Council, said:
“The Clean Maritime Plan is a really valuable piece of work, setting out an ambitious path forward for the transformation of the maritime sector in the UK. It doesn’t shy away from the scale or complexity of the challenge of such a transformation. But it’s a transformation that the ports industry, along with the rest of the maritime sector and working in partnership with Government and other stakeholders, is determined to take on.”
A further consultation to increase the uptake of low carbon fuels will also take place next year.
The Clean Maritime Plan is part of the government’s Maritime 2050, a long-term strategy published in January 2019 to keep the UK as a world leader in the maritime sector for decades to come.

 

[armchairsailor]

Looking into donks, I reckon that you’ll be roughly about the same cost to either buy a new diesel or convert to electric if you’re under 30’. I know what I’d be doing. Unless you’re some sort of hardcore motor sailor it’s a no-brainer for the environment.

 

[scottie]

Looking into donks, I reckon that you’ll be roughly about the same cost to either buy a new diesel or convert to electric if you’re under 30’. I know what I’d be doing. Unless you’re some sort of hardcore motor sailor it’s a no-brainer for the environment.

Unless of course you are Calmac !

 

[NormanS]

Looking into donks, I reckon that you’ll be roughly about the same cost to either buy a new diesel or convert to electric if you’re under 30’. I know what I’d be doing. Unless you’re some sort of hardcore motor sailor it’s a no-brainer for the environment.

Since my boat is either on a swinging mooring, or sailing, where do I get the necessary electricity? A trailing cable?

 

[kof]

You'll be forced to install a big honking diesel generator. Oh wait...

Since my boat is either on a swinging mooring, or sailing, where do I get the necessary electricity? A trailing cable?

 

[oldgit]

.....rather think this is aimed at commercial shipping.
Owners of seagull outboards might not need to hide under their beds for while yet ?
Anybody who has ever seen the filth coming out of some ships funnels can probably understand the need for a clean up.

 

[johnalison]

.....rather think this is aimed at commercial shipping.
Owners of seagull outboards might not need to hide under their beds for while yet ?
Anybody who has ever seen the filth coming out of some ships funnels can probably understand the need for a clean up.

You only have to look out to sea during an inversion to see the pollution, and it's not as if the ships use very clean fuel either.

 

[Tomahawk]

Folks need to read up on IMO 2020

The use of high sulphur fuel in commercial shipping is being banned from 2020.
They either have to fit scrubbers
Or convert to LNG
Or buy road fuel


However the effects on the world price of road quality fuel will be pretty bad as there is not enough refining capacity to distill al the HFO into light fuel oil..

 

[capnsensible]

You only have to look out to sea during an inversion to see the pollution, and it's not as if the ships use very clean fuel either.

Try the Straits of Gibraltar in light airs. Awful, about time emmisions were dragged into the....21st century.

 

[Tomahawk]

They are being dragged into the C21..

That's what IMO2020 is all about..

 

[armchairsailor]

Since my boat is either on a swinging mooring, or sailing, where do I get the necessary electricity? A trailing cable?

Solar? A small quiet generator? Turbine? Regenerative charging whilst sailing via the prop? Those cool little generators they hang off the back of Imoca 60s? Solutions are out there for us. There’s also the one that generations have already used: sail more! ?

Oh, and I’m on a swinging mooring too, because I’m too cheap/ poor to use fancy pants marina things.

 

[mjcoon]

Since my boat is either on a swinging mooring, or sailing, where do I get the necessary electricity? A trailing cable?

Maybe if you park in a wind farm you can plug in there?

Mike.

 

[Tomahawk]

• Clean Maritime Plan part of long-term strategy to keep UK as world leader in maritime sector
Read more at http://www.ybw.com/forums/showthrea...aintenance-and-the-whisky#4cbLqSbISvxm97kX.99

What planet are those idiots living on?

Our maritime industry is a pittance compared to just about everywhere else. We no longer build ships, we have just a tiny fraction of worldwide registered tonnage. Most of the slipways and commercial boat yards have been converted to flats.

Whilst they bullshit about clean seas, the Chinsese and the rest of the Asian fishing fleet is powered by the cheapest propulsion available..

 

[Deleted member 36384]

Whats the problem here? Is there one, it is just about reducing pollutants in shipping.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/clean-maritime-plan-maritime-2050-environment-route-map
http://www.imo.org/en/MediaCentre/HotTopics/Pages/Sulphur-2020.aspx

Will my fuel bill go up, maybe, but it's hardly worth worrying about as it is very low anyway. Will my engine die using new fuels, probably not, but it's old anyway and I am budgeting for a replacement at some future point.

The thing that concerns me is that it is too little, too late, 2050 is too far away based on the warnings that we need to reduce damaging pollutants within the next decade significantly.

 

[Tomahawk]

Nowt wrong with the idea of reducing pollution..

It's the notion that the UK merchant fleet has some influence on the world. Our regulations and associated costs seem to have driven most commercial fleets of our registers. Now the regulators want to add more regulations.

 

[greeny]

Nowt wrong with the idea of reducing pollution..

It's the notion that the UK merchant fleet has some influence on the world. Our regulations and associated costs seem to have driven most commercial fleets of our registers. Now the regulators want to add more regulations.

+1

 

[Stemar]

Seems to me that it's very likely to reduce emissions from UK registered ships to close to zero. Job done.

The fact that it will accomplish this by reducing the UK fleet to close to zero is irrelevant.

A bit like the article I read this morning about the green initiative to import used cooking oil to make biodiesel. Which is causing further deforestation because those who were using the old oil now need to use new palm oil.

 

[armchairsailor]

It’s no good saying “what’s the point when they’re doing worse things than us?” - get your own house in order people and improve the things you can. Recycle everything you can, use public transport when you can, buy local when you can. Do everything YOU CAN to reduce YOUR carbon footprint and stop bleating about others. Stop being defeatist and make small changes. They all add up, whether it’s in the home, merchant fleets or whatever.

 

[Stemar]

Agreed, but I like to be sure that my efforts will actually reduce my carbon and other footprints, not do stuff because it looks good, but actually makes things worse.

What would work better than saying British flagged ships must meet whatever standards are deemed necessary, better to say that all ships visiting British ports must meet them.

Then, of course, they'll just stop coming if it's too expensive to comply, which would have, err... interesting results. That would certainly reduce our national footprint.

 

[Neeves]

Agreed, but I like to be sure that my efforts will actually reduce my carbon and other footprints, not do stuff because it looks good, but actually makes things worse.

What would work better than saying British flagged ships must meet whatever standards are deemed necessary, better to say that all ships visiting British ports must meet them.

Then, of course, they'll just stop coming if it's too expensive to comply, which would have, err... interesting results. That would certainly reduce our national footprint.

I disagree.

The goods these ships deliver to the UK will still be needed. We all want the cheap 'T' shirts from China (and increasingly Bangladesh) or those bananas from the Carib. The containers will simply be offloaded in, say, Antwerp and then sent over by truck. You will have the same pollution (maybe worse, maybe a bit better) it will just come from another source.

I know - electric trucks - how do you produce the electricity to power the trucks (and where is all the lithium going to come from to produce the batteries?, and the more efficient aircraft).

Jonathan.