Richard Burden – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Richard Burden on 2016-07-12.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 11 July 2016 to Question 41675, on shipping: exhaust emissions, what legal and technical barriers his Department has identified that could restrict the growth in green technologies in shipping.

Mr John Hayes

Given the international nature of shipping and with a ship’s life cycle being typically in the region of 25-30 years, the Government’s priority has been to ensure that appropriate international and regional standards are in place for green technologies in shipping. The Government is keen to promote the global application and implementation of technical and where appropriate legal standards, applied fairly across the board, and with industry given as much advance notice as possible of any new requirements. This delivers a level and competitive playing field and clarity of regulatory approach.

Currently, our focus has been on barriers which inhibit the development of abatement technologies and alternative fuels which control sulphur emissions. The lack of international technical standards for the storage, loading and the safe handling of liquefied natural gas and methanol is one factor which has discouraged ports and ships from investing in this technology. Uncertainty about whether the global 0.5 per cent sulphur cap will come into force in 2020, or be deferred until 2025 is another. As a consequence the UK is pressing for decisions to be taken as soon as possible to give industry as much time as possible to prepare for the new requirements.