T&E: Majority of New Ships Exceed IMO’s Post-2025 Requirements

Almost three-quarters of new ships carrying consumer goods already exceed International Maritime Organisation’s (IMO) post-2025 energy efficiency requirement.

Some 71% of all new containerships, which emit around a quarter of global ship CO2 emissions, comply with the post-2025 requirements of the IMO’s Energy Efficiency Design Index (EEDI), according to a study based on analysis of IMO’s own data and conducted by Transport & Environment (T&E).

Additionally, the best 10% of new containerships are already almost twice as efficient as the requirement for 10 years time.

“This new analysis using official IMO data confirms earlier findings presented to the IMO by environmental groups: the energy efficiency standard is not fit for purpose to drive better designs or technological innovation. Ship owners, represented by the International Chamber of Shipping and BIMCO, have opposed tighter standards as part of efforts to drain all ambition out of IMO discussions on how shipping can decarbonise,” Faig Abbasov, shipping officer at T&E, said.

The study analysed ship types accounting for two-thirds of ship CO2 emissions and found that in addition to containerships, 69% of general cargo ships, 26% of new tankers and 13% of gas carriers exceed the EEDI’s 2025 requirements 10 years ahead of schedule. In general, the 10% best performing general cargo ships, tankers and gas carriers are respectively 57%, 35% and 42% more efficient than was required by the EEDI in the period 2013-2015.