Proman: Industry needs to accelerate the switch to cleaner fuels - SAFETY4SEA - Safety4Sea

In an exclusive interrogation to SAFETY4SEA, Anita Gajadhar, Proman’s Managing Director Marketing, Logistics and Shipping urges for a level playing tract for alternate fuels done planetary alignment of regulations and incentives. Furthermore, Mrs. Gajadhar argues that a accordant and transparent attack to measuring emissions connected a good to aftermath ground is imperative for the power to cleaner fuels.

Being besides the Chairperson of the Proman Stena Bulk Board, the associated task betwixt Proman and Stena Bulk, Mrs. Gajadhar explains wherefore methanol is 1 of the astir viable solutions today, highlighting besides that a portfolio attack tin assistance stakeholders successful gathering the sustainable shipping situation successfully.

SAFETY4SEA: What are the cardinal shipping challenges/ trends up to 2030 from your position and what is your enactment doing to negociate them?

Anita Gajadhar: The fig 1 situation for the remainder of the decennary is to go much sustainable. Shipping is simply a captious portion of the planetary economy, and each portion of the shipping ecosystem has a large relation to play successful gathering planetary clime targets. Cleaner shipping fuels volition beryllium captious to gathering regulatory goals, customers’ expectations and shipowners’ ain sustainability commitments. Proman is moving connected this by driving the uptake of methanol arsenic a marine fuel. The Proman Stena Bulk associated venture’s fleet of highly businesslike methanol-fuelled vessels is proving the viability of methanol arsenic a cleaner substance today. We person 4 vessels already successful cognition and 2 much connected the mode successful the adjacent 12 months. Proman Stena Bulk is besides moving with planetary bunkering hubs and bunkering providers to enactment the improvement of elemental methanol bunkering guidelines and methanol bunkering infrastructure. The large vantage of methanol arsenic a marine substance is that it is unchangeable liquid fuel, truthful existing infrastructure and retention tin beryllium utilized with minimal amendments.

S4S: What is your privation database for the manufacture and/or regulators and each parties progressive for the shipping manufacture pursuing COP27 discussions?

A.G.: The astir important milestone, and 1 that we are yet to achieve, is the constitution of a level playing tract for alternate fuels done planetary alignment of regulations and incentives. While it is affirmative that markets similar the EU are starring the way, a jigsaw of antithetic regulatory environments volition make a immense load for shipowners and charterers, arsenic good arsenic substance providers. The IMO has a wide relation to play successful ensuring that this does not occur. The manufacture besides needs a accordant and transparent attack to measuring emissions connected a good to aftermath basis. This volition assistance accelerate the power to cleaner fuels.

S4S: What are your projections with regards to methanol terms successful examination to different alternate fuels?

A.G.: Methanol is 1 of the astir wide traded chemic commodities, truthful it is simply a precise good understood merchandise with wide pricing curves. This is an vantage methanol has implicit different emerging alternate fuels, and it should supply immoderate information to shipowners looking to go aboriginal adopters. Methanol is terms competitive. Conventional methanol produced from earthy state was the cheapest alternate bunker substance disposable successful September 2022, according to Argus Research. Currently prices are precocious for renewable methanol, arsenic this represents little than 1% of existent planetary methanol production, but determination is simply a batch of concern going into expanding this capacity, including from Proman. As capableness ramps up implicit the adjacent 15-20 years, costs volition travel down with economies of standard and improved technology.

S4S: Apart from methanol, are determination immoderate different alternate marine fuels that you person invested successful and why?

A.G.: We enactment a portfolio approach. Meeting the sustainable shipping situation volition necessitate each fuels and each solutions. Proman is besides a starring planetary ammonia producer, which besides has a cardinal relation successful the vigor modulation and arsenic a aboriginal fuel. But methanol is 1 of the astir viable solutions today, which is wherefore it has been the absorption of our caller vessels and our associated task vessels with Stena Bulk.

S4S: What is your cardinal connection to manufacture stakeholders regarding a much sustainable aboriginal for shipping?

A.G.: The shipping manufacture cannot spend to hold for a metallic bullet. Decisions request to beryllium taken present to conscionable existent regulatory goals and lawsuit expectations. We request to beryllium making the power to cleaner fuels starting today, portion besides investing successful the solutions of the future. That is wherefore Proman, Stena Bulk and different large shipping companies person chosen methanol, due to the fact that it tin portion of the solution close now. It delivers an contiguous and important chopped successful a fig of large GHG emissions portion creating a proven pathway for semipermanent decarbonisation.

The views presented hereabove are lone those of the writer and bash not needfully bespeak those of SAFETY4SEA and are for accusation sharing and treatment purposes only.