New IMO projects to aid green energy transition in ports of developing nations

The International Maritime Organization (IMO) has shared details of four pilot projects aimed at assisting developing countries in reducing their greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.

As informed, the projects were selected under the IMO CARES Global Technology Challenge.

The initiatives are said to cover renewable energy production in ports and port call data sharing for “just-in-time” shipping. They will be implemented in Mauritius, St. Kitts and Nevis, Namibia, and Trinidad and Tobago as part of the IMO’s EU-funded Global Maritime Technology Center Network (GMN) Phase II project.

These demonstrations are anticipated to provide ‘vital help’ to developing countries, especially the least developed countries (LDCs) and small island developing states (SIDS), in meeting the IMO’s energy efficiency and greenhouse gas reduction targets.

According to the IMO, each of the proposals is tailored to address singular challenges in each region, while also positively contributing to worldwide efforts to slash GHG emissions. Moreover, the IMO has highlighted that the implementation phase itself will be ‘key’ to understanding how these solutions could be expanded to other ports and countries in the future.

Hydrogen fuel cell technology provider Clean Maritime Shipping (CMS) engineered a technical proposal for GHG reduction at Port Louis, Mauritius, in East Africa, with circular bio-derived fuels and hydrogen technology (BioH2Energy) which reportedly converts organic waste into energy.

As informed, the project proposes to build a 2.4 MW system converting two tons of organic waste to supply 100 KW per hour.

The project’s goal is also to decrease the current electricity grid consumption from thermal sources at Port Louis, namely, from 807 gCO2e/KWh to a more sustainable option of -0.045 gCO2e/KWh.

Additionally, it intends to slash 482 tons of carbon dioxide per year by utilizing organic waste as fuel for the BioH2Energy system rather than landfilling it, the IMO explained.

Across the Atlantic, for the Caribbean, solar technology provider SYG TECH envisioned port decarbonization via renewable energy-powered microgrids. This technology reportedly comprises a vertical axis wind turbine comprising an ‘improved’ storm protection feature.

As per the IMO, SYG TECH created a proposal to build the microgrid integrating its wind turbine at the Basseterre Deep Water port, St. Kitts and Nevis, where renewable wind energy is expected to cut around 46% of the port’s GHG emissions.

Since a feasibility study suggested that a “proper mixture of wind, solar and storage would make the port microgrid 100% carbon neutral“, the technology’s installation and subsequent operation could result in an annual saving of 141 tons of CO2eq.

Given that St. Kitts and Nevis are in a hurricane-prone area, the wind turbine will come with a tilt-down feature. Specifically, the turbine is said to be able to control its wings by monitoring wind speed. When the wind speed reaches the designated cut-off wind velocity level, the turbine is supposed to close the wings, bringing the turbine into the “storm protection” formation.

Germany-based maritime consultancy and advisory service provider BM Bergmann Marine and Cyprus’s Marine Fields Holding developed a solution based on the port call data-sharing platform named PERSEUS in a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) concept.

The technology was selected by the Port of Walvis Bay and Port of Lüderitz in Namibia, and Port of Point Lisas in Trinidad and Tobago. Its implementation is expected to achieve an overall reduction of GHG emissions by 10% within one year.

As disclosed, the project suggests customizing PERSEUS to allow all actors in the port and the port State authorities direct access to port call data, which is considered to be the prerequisite for implementing “Just-In-Time” operations and automated reporting.

Moreover, the PERSEUS system is anticipated to aid the port in reducing the total turnaround time and ‘improving’ port facility utilization, thus minimizing the associated GHG emissions.

Maritime stakeholders, organizations and institutes have increasingly turned their attention to developing countries to support a more just energy transition, and to mend the existing gap.

At the world’s first Global Supply Chain Forum, organized in May 2024 by UN Trade and Development (UNCTAD) and the Government of Barbados in Bridgetown, the IMO Secretary-General Arsenio Dominguez stated that decarbonization and geopolitics were two major challenges currently facing the maritime industry.

The forum placed particular focus on issues such as financing, trade facilitation, transport connectivity, digitalization, climate action and preparing developing countries for the energy transition in global transport.

During the event, the IMO and UNCTAD organized side events that promoted decarbonization of the maritime transport sector for SIDS and LDCs in the Caribbean and beyond.

The first panel, titled “Climate Change Mitigation and Energy Transition,” examined opportunities and challenges for green shipping in the Caribbean and SIDS, while addressing the countries’ needs and gaps Discussions focused on SIDS’ needs and gaps, and how these could be met through technology access, maritime cooperation, and training seafarers to handle low-GHG fuels.

The second session, “Unlocking Opportunities for Green Shipping in the Caribbean,” discussed how Caribbean SIDS can leverage eco-friendly shipping benefits while minimizing the higher logistics costs often associated with the energy transition.

Nonetheless, when it comes to decarbonization efforts in SIDS and LDCs, one hurdle appears to remain: funding.

One document, submitted by the International Association of Ports and Harbors (IAPH) to the IMO at the inter-sessional meeting of the IMO’s Working Group on Reduction of GHG Emissions from Ships (ISWG-GHG 17) in September this year, presented a more ‘robust’ look into this reality by providing the findings of a study commissioned from Maritime & Transport Business Solutions (MTBS).

As understood, the study focused on port climate adaptation and decarbonization investment needs of developing nations, with case studies from Brazil, India, Indonesia, Kenya as well as the Solomon Islands, which pointed out the investments needed to ensure a ‘fair and equitable’ transition.

Based on estimations, it was predicted that the aggregate total investment needed for ports in developing nations was somewhere between $55 and 83 billion and that the key to the transition would be prioritizing adaptation (or resilience) investments instead of mitigation ones.

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