Decarbonization of the Cargo Shipping Fleet

In an effort to combat climate change, the International Maritime Organization (IMO) has set ambitious goals for the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions from ships, with a target of at least a 50% reduction of total annual greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, including carbon, from 2008 levels by 2050, with a further goal of zero GHG emissions within this century. Numerous technologies are under development to address these new goals, but the implementation of these new technologies is quite uncertain. Cargo ship owners face the challenge of determining how to best employ and possibly upgrade the current fleet to meet interim goals while awaiting the maturation of future technologies. This article describes a methodology and computer code that provide a rapid assessment of the impact of various fuel-saving technologies on an existing cargo ship's fuel consumption, thus providing the ship owner fundamental data indicating which upgrades and practices warrant further, more detailed investigation.