Emission regulations and the future of ships

With the IMO’s Carbon Intensity Indicator (CII) in force since the start of 2023, Thousands of commercial ships' futures are in jeopardy. More than one-third of bulkers, tankers, and cargo ships do not comply today. Are your vessels part of this group? If they are and you don’t take action fast, you risk having to reduce sailing speeds to the point that they’re no longer competitive – and your vessels have to be replaced.

Your four top tips to help you decarbonize your merchant ships and secure a profitable future are:

1. Learn about the solutions that are out there to help you comply

2. Know where your ships stand today in terms of their CII rating

3. Analyze the impact of different combinations of solutions on your CII score

4. Decide on the best course of action based on the results of the analysis

Let’s look at each tip in a bit more detail.

1.Learn about the solutions that are out there to help you comply:

Back in 2020 the IMO’s Fourth Greenhouse Gas Study had already identified 44 abatement technologies that can help your vessel to comply with CII requirements while allowing it to continue sailing at market speeds. Since then, more have certainly emerged, and they include:

1. Low-carbon fuels

2. Shaft generators

3. Engine and propulsion system upgrades

4. Battery-based hybrid systems

5. Energy-saving technologies

As well as technical improvements, there are also operational pathways that can improve the efficiency of your ships, such as:

1. Slow steaming

2. Weather-optimized routing

3. Timely maintenance and hull cleaning

Once you’re up to speed on what’s out there, the next step is to find out where your ships stand right now in terms of CII compliance. But how?

2.Know where your ships stand today in terms of their CII rating

f you want to see where you stand today, you’ll need to gather and analyse data from a wide variety of sources, including your vessels’ operational profiles, technical characteristics and fuel consumption reports. This is a time-consuming and complicated process that needs advanced tools and experts who know how to use them and how to interpret the results.

When you get this far, you’ll have a decent prediction about how the current CII performance of your vessel or fleet and how it will degrade over time. So, now you have an idea of the options available to you and where you are today, you need to find out what the potential impact of different technologies could be on your ships’ energy efficiency. This brings us to top tip number three.

3.Analyze the impact of different combinations of solutions on your CII score

It’s all very well knowing what solutions are out there, but only a digital model will reveal their potential impact on your ship’s CII rating. This kind of model can be used to simulate the effects of different technologies and combinations of technologies. Three examples of investments whose impact can be analyzed with a digital model are:

1. Adopting a battery-based hybrid system

2. Converting to carbon-neutral fuels

3. Retrofitting your vessel with energy-saving technologies

CII Online Calculator

But determining the impact of different technologies is only half the battle.

4.Decide on the best course of action based on the results of the analysis

You might now know the potential impact of different technologies and combinations of technologies on your vessel’s CII rating. But what should you do with this knowledge? if you don’t know how to apply it you could be heading down the wrong pathway to compliance. Potentially, this could mean investing in solutions that don’t deliver the results that make most sense for your business. To see clearly which investments make most sense for your ships, you need actionable advice based on reliable data. 

Only a reputable partner with the right tools and expertise at their disposal can provide this kind of advice. A partner like this will take the guesswork out of CII compliance.

Invest wisely and extend your vessel’s CII compliance by years

Investing wisely in operational and technical improvements can extend your vessel’s CII compliance by several years. This will boost your vessel’s utilization and preserve market speeds – gaining you a competitive advantage and healthy return on your investment.