The head of shipments has warned that EU carbon plans will increase emissions from industry

The EU predicts a reduction in carbon emissions and risks increasing the CO2 generated by the shipbuilding industry, warns the head of the world’s second largest container ship.

Soren Toft, CEO of the Mediterranean Maritime Company, told the Financial Times that EU measures, which are still being studied, would have the opposite effect of intentions if low-carbon fuels were not available.

That is, operators would be forced to slow down their ships in response to the demand for restrictions, and there would be a need for more new vessels to maintain service levels.

“It is very clear to us that what is proposed in the absence of carbon-neutral fuels will add more capacity, more containers, and all of these need to be funded by Asian-built ones, which will generate more emissions,” he said.

However, Tristan Smith of the UCL Energy Institute said that EU carbon measures would increase the industry’s emissions “is not credible”.

The burning of a ship’s fuel bunker is much higher than that generated in construction, and other economic factors such as the price of oil and transportation rates determine the speed of the ship, he added.

MSC’s comments that Maersk will become the world’s largest container group with the largest order book for new vessels are at a critical juncture as the EU prepares proposals for a carbon market review next month.

It is also significant that Toft, who joined Maersk in December from MSC, spoke in December, as the group has rarely advertised since it was founded by Gianluigi Aponte in 1970.

A big question for the shipping industry is the scope of travel that the EU will focus on in its emissions review system, while policymakers are trying to reduce CO2 emissions by 55 per cent by 2030.

It is difficult to decarbonise the shipment that generates 2.4% of international CO2 emissions because low-carbon fuels, such as green ammonia or hydrogen, are not widely available.

Dierderik, a European Commission official in charge of Samsom’s EU green deal group, said the emissions trading system would be the main mechanism to help reduce CO2 in the shipping sector.

Carbon prices, which allow emitters to buy permits to meet CO2 targets, “would provide a real incentive [maritime] industries to decarbonize their fuel and decarbonize their entire operation, ”Samsom told FT’s Future of Europe conference last week.

He added that the industry can cope with new obligations by using different types of ships and using different navigation speeds to reduce its carbon footprint.

Toft has teamed up with the MSC on an industry it is exploring on two fronts: its response to climate change and efforts to restore service reliability have collapsed during the pandemic.

MSC vessels have lost 10,000 sailing days waiting in ports this year, a third more than last year.

“We are struggling to provide the service that we believe our customers have the right to,” Toft said.

But he stressed the global disruptions in the current supply chain, and he believes they will probably continue to do so next year, “because they are not caused by carriers.”

Another concern for the industry is to be a part of the regional taxes on emissions. “The EU will take that approach and then before we know it, we will have 10 different approaches to deal with,” Toft said.

However, some smaller operators like Torvald Klaveness and Maersk Tankers say the industry should accept that the EU will make laws on emissions from shipments and work to influence the regional initiative instead of preventing it.

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