The motto in much of the shipping industry has been “sail fast and then wait.” Some ships, however, are taking the bold step of “slow sailing” to save money and reduce emissions. And not only that.
Research led by the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) shows that coordinated arrivals of ships at ports save lives.
For several years, the university studied the impact of shipping emissions on mortality, concluding that 90,000 premature deaths annuallys, worldwide, can be attributed to air pollution caused by ships.
The Big Traffic Jam and the Solution
In late 2021, demand for goods exploded as Covid-19 restrictions eased and the world began – slowly – to return to normal. The ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles were unable to cope with the massive influx of ships from Asia.
As of November 9, 2021, there were approximately 100 ships waiting to dock. Some were “stuck” in the queue for over a month.
The dockworkers had an idea. If ships leaving Asia knew their turn in the queue, they could schedule their arrival to coincide with a time when berthing space was available.
Thus, the ports began to give priority to arriving ships.
What happened next was incredible. The ships began sailing an average of three or four knots slower in the Pacific Ocean, reducing the congestion problem – and parallel saving approximately 460,000 tons of carbon dioxide emissions (tCO2e), according to Xeneta, a sea and air freight tracking service.
Suddenly it seemed increasingly silly to have hundreds of ships lined up outside Los Angeles.
What if it became a more permanent measure?
But what if the shipping industry could implement “slow sailing” more widely as a climate measure, not just an emergency measure?
Shipping is responsible for around 2% of global carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions each year – more than Germany’s entire annual CO2 output. Many of today’s ships still use highly polluting heavy fuel oil (HFO) in their engines, although some regions are introducing bans on its use.
Efforts are underway to transition to cleaner alternatives, but this is expected to take many years. Some say the quickest answer is slower shipping.
“By reducing speed by 10%, maybe a kilometre an hour, we can reduce emissions by around 20%,” says Grant Hunter, director of standards, innovation and research at Bimco, a shipping industry association.
How the ‘Blue Visby Solution’ works
But slowing down comes with logistical and financial challenges. A new technology project, the Blue Visby Solution, aims to solve these challenges by helping ships save fuel and money without delaying cargo transportation.
The head of chartering for CBH, a grain growers’ cooperative in Australia, listened intently at a conference as a speaker described how the system could help ships time their arrival at busy ports, rather than rushing there and waiting hours or even days before pulling into the dock.
If ship managers and cargo owners are confident that their vessel will have immediate access to loading or unloading space upon arrival, then there is no real need to rush.
Visby blue uses digital technology to optimize and distribute the arrival times of ships traveling to the same port, with an algorithm that determines the ideal arrival time for each ship.
This allows ships to slow down, reducing fuel consumption and emissions, while maintaining order in the queue as they arrive one after the other, which reduces unnecessary waiting times outside ports.
What did the tests show?
The process was tested in March and April 2024 with the bulk carriers Gerdt Oldendorff and Begonia. The two vessels made ballast trips to CBH Group’s grain terminal in Kwinana, Australia.
The tests resulted in a CO2 saving of 28.2% for Gerdt Oldendorff and 12.9% for Begonia, resulting in an average saving of 17.3% at 14 knots.
The concept of slower sailing is not new and there are other ways to apply it. But the ‘Blue Visby Solution’ is a more precise process, converting waiting time into sailing time so that the transfer process does not take longer overall. The ship sails at the correct speed to dock in port when the berth is ready.
naftemporiki.gr