The International Group of P&I Clubs writes:
With IMO’s 2050 decarbonisation targets for the shipping industry looming large on the horizon, the number of ships on the water or ordered with a capability to run on a low-carbon or carbon-free fuel continues to rise.
But will the liability and compensation regimes designed to deliver swift and easy access to compensation when bunkers are spilt keep pace?
Changing fuels – but to what?
Figures from DNV highlight that whilst only a tiny part of the current fleet are equipped to burn low or carbon free fuels, the numbers are set to grow exponentially. Already, 21% of the newbuildings contracted in the last twelve months are dual-fuel, with methanol and LNG (not itself a carbon-free alternative but one of the so-called “bridge fuels” facilitating the transition from conventional fossil fuels to renewable energy sources) leading the pack in terms of an alternative to IFO or MDO.
Other fuels – like ammonia, hydrogen and LPGs – are also contenders but there is as yet no clear sense of direction of in which technology shipowners will invest their capital. The same sense of uncertainly also surrounds the bunkering market, where the absence of a clear sense of direction behind one or other of the potential new fuels discourages investment in port handling and bunkering facilities for fear of making the wrong bet.
Known knowns – bunker spills today
Currently, the spillage of bunkers, whilst undoubtedly messy and often a cause of environmental damage, is at least a largely known threat. It creates a toxic pool in the marine environment which needs to be cleaned-up, but which often gets washed ashore and causes harm to people’s livelihoods. But unless it is directly ingested there is little risk to human life, it typically doesn’t catch fire very easily and over the last half a century or so a global network of responders have developed effective means of clearing it up.
New liability perspectives
But what happens if there’s a leakage of a new type of fuel, methanol or LNG say?
Read the full insight from the International Group of P&I Clubs here!
