MSC at Capital Link Decarbonisation in Shipping Forum

Last Thursday, 15 April, Bud Darr, Executive Vice President Maritime Policy and Government Affairs, MSC Group joined a panel with other industry leaders to discuss what it really takes to reach zero carbon future.

The panel session brought together an impressive line-up of shipowners representatives under the title “Looking ahead – the shipowner’s perspective”.

The discussion covered a wide range of topics from market-based measures to regulation and future fuel options, without forgetting to address the vital contribution from seafarers during the pandemic.

Fully decarbonising the shipping industry is a huge challenge. Today, the only commercially available options to significantly reduce emissions from the shipping industry at scale are energy efficiency, LNG or biofuels.

“Limitations we face today, are substantial,” Bud Darr said. “It’s not one size fits all. It is going to take a variety of solutions to form a solution set to satisfy the whole industry’s needs. We need a range of alternative fuels at scale and we need them urgently,” he continued. 

Bud also emphasised the importance of flexibility when trying to predict the future of assets that are very long lived. “It is key to look into how we can build in as much flexibility as possible. If you have a dual-fuel ship today, that is able to operate on either conventional fuels or LNG, you actually do have some flexibility for the future as part of that design.”

Recording of the session is available on youtube and the event website. You can register for free to listen to all replays from the two-day event.