Shipowners need to change their operations and improve vessel efficiency to meet the tough requirements of IMO’s Carbon Intensity Indicator (CII) ratings, agreed an expert panel at Riviera Maritime Media’s How shipowners can improve their CII compliance rating webinar
This event was held 25 January 2023 and sponsored by Silverstream Technologies during Riviera’s Vessel Optimisation Webinar Week.
On the panel were Foreship chief technology officer Jan-Erik Rasanen, Silverstream Technologies chief technologist David Connolly, Aventra Group chief executive Juan Jose Gil and Wallem Group fleet manager Gavin Dsouza.
Mr Rasanen said CII stipulates vessels will be rated A to E based on their carbon intensity with the 2023 baseline already below 2019 levels. Ships will then need to improve efficiency to maintain or improve ratings, as this baseline will be reduced 2% per year, initially to 2026.
This is part of IMO’s strategy to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 40% in 2030 and 70% in 2050, as approved by the Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC) at its 79th meeting in December 2022.
“There are five levels of CII with A, B and C being good,” explained Mr Rasanen.
If a ship is rated D, it has three years to upgrade its rating to C, while one calculated at an E rating has one year to make improvements. “This will not be easy, but is a legal requirement.”
Much needs to be done by the maritime industry to improve energy efficiency, as VesselsValue estimates 75% of the global fleet will not be CII compliant in 2023.
Some of the measures to consider for improving CII rating are reducing ship speed, implementing just-in-time (JIT) port arrival, making energy efficiency improvements, retrofitting ships to use low-carbon fuels, installing energy storage systems and using shore power.
“For cruise ships, it is a challenge due to high port and anchorage times, which have a high impact on CII,” said Mr Rasanen, as Foreship has experience from working with cruise ship operators.
It is also challenging due to the high hotel loads cruise ships need for passengers and crew, resulting in significantly higher energy consumption than commercial ships.
“Environmental fuels are the best option,” he continued. “Availability and price of these fuels will be important in future as will the timescale of when they are available.”
Mr Dsouza said owners of merchant ships will need to consider technical and operational measures. Technical measures include coating hulls with low-friction paints, modifying ship hulls, installing energy saving devices (ESDs), redesigning propulsion or installing sails and solar panels.
Operational measures may required less capital expenditure, but more co-ordination with ship crews and charterers. They include improved voyage planning, considering JIT and route optimisation and optimising ship handling.
“This could include trim and draught optimisation and changing rudder use,” said Mr Dsouza.
More thorough ship maintenance could incorporate increased hull and propulsion inspections and cleaning during drydocking, timely maintenance of onboard machinery and equipment to reduce downtime and replacing lighting with low-energy light-emitting diodes.
Also needed is to “make crew aware they need to conserve fuel and energy,” said Mr Dsouza. “Avoid heat loss through more insulation, improve operations and discuss this with charterers, as they will decide the speed of each voyage.”
Acceptable CII rating measures, such as sensible ship speeds and port arrival times, should be incorporated in charterparties.
“Most savings will be from slow steaming, forcing some vessels to reduce power and steaming capabilities to comply with CII from 2023 onwards,” said Mr Dsouza. “There is no one-size-fits-all.”
For all parties, it is important to closely monitor vessels’ CII ratings. Ship masters, operators and owners can use software dashboards to estimate and monitor CII ratings during a voyage. “Close monitoring is the key for each and every voyage,” said Mr Dsouza. “Shipowners can improve CII ratings by optimising operations and looking into new technology, but this is a stop-gap, a temporary measure. The future will be low-carbon fuels.”
Air lubrication
Mr Connolly emphasised the importance of air lubrication on ship hulls to improve energy efficiency, reduce fuel consumption and upgrade a CII rating. “Frictional resistance at a design speed of 19 knots represents 65% of total resistance,” he said. “The flat-of-bottom of a ship represents typically 40-45% of the wetted surface area, representing 26-30% of total resistance and fuel consumed at constant speeds.”
If around 80% of the flat-of-bottom is lubricated, gross savings delivered should be 10-12%, with net savings typically 6-9%, after discounting compressor power for generating the air lubricant. This is based on analysis of air lubrication on LNG carrier Methane Patricia Camila operating on a ballast voyage.
“This will enable a ship to go up one band, or remain in the current CII band for longer,” said Mr Connolly. It would allow an LNG carrier to remain C-rated for nearly four more years.
He thinks independent validation is important for technologies improving CII ratings. Silverstream Technologies has secured third-party verification of air lubrication performance from class societies Lloyd’s Register, Bureau Veritas, ABS, DNV and RINA from hydrodynamic testing and pilot projects with owners and operators such as Shell, Grimaldi Group, Carnival Group and Norwegian Cruise Line.
It has also appointed third-party specialists for operational performance monitoring, including BMT Smart, Wärtsilä’s Eniram and Southampton University.
“Air lubrication will reduce friction far more than coatings and we are offering the technology across the board for tankers, gas carriers, bulk carriers, cruise ships, etc,” said Mr Connolly.
“We are moving into a world of more expensive fuels, so it makes more sense to invest in reducing fuel consumption.”
Small shipowner requirements
Mr Gil said major shipping groups have the financial backing to invest in reducing emissions from their fleets, but smaller shipowners do not have that capacity. “Shipowners need to seek compliance at minimal risk and investments,” he said. “CII is a journey and we still do not know how CII will unfold."
CII is IMO’s strategy from 2023 to 2040, with the global maritime organisation set to consider changes to CII after 2026 at the next MEPC meeting this year. Shipowners will need to keep a close eye on these decisions.
“Every shipowner needs to build resilience and a strategy for compliance, improvements and investment.”
Mr Gil said owners have time to consider their future strategies as they could meet ratings requirements in the short term through operational measures, such as voyage optimisation and slow steaming.
“Shipowners have three years to decide on their financial plans and should learn from past behaviour of their ships, then look at where to invest their money,” he said.
“Slow steaming is effective, but it is not a magic wand, and it comes with its flaws.”
It reduces capacity on trades, from dry bulk and containers to oil and gas maritime transport. “If all ships slow, there will be less capacity in market,” said Mr Gill.
More ships will then be needed for global transport, resulting in higher emissions from the whole shipping industry.
Poll results
Attendees were asked to vote on a series of poll questions during the webinar. Here is a summary of the results.
Which of the following offers the greatest potential for vessel efficiency optimisation?
Hull air lubrication: 14%
Rotor sails: 3%
Hull coatings: 10%
Gate rudders: 1%
Waste heat recovery systems: 7%
Propeller/propulsive flow improvement devices: 11%
Hybrid and/or fuel cell technology adoption: 17%
Slow steaming: 37%
What additional work needs to be the number one priority of energy saving device (ESD) providers to enable owners to make informed technology selections?
Available sea trial data in public domain: 24%
Increased customer advocacy and feedback: 6%
Industrywide standard for testing and verifying ESD performance: 40%
More regulatory pressure: 7%
More financial support for early adopters: 23%
Is your organisation actively considering ESDs as a solution to support CII or efficiency regulations compliance?
Yes, actively considering it: 51%
Interested, but no plans at the moment: 37%
No, not considering it: 12%
Is the shipping industry currently fulfilling its role in mitigating the effects of global climate change?
Yes: 48%
No: 52%
When do you foresee mid- and small-sized shipowners taking serious action on CII?
2023: 8%
2024: 42%
2025: 34%
2026: 16%
Given the uncertainties on environmental fuels (eFuels), and the flaws of CII, do you think playing a wait and see strategy can work for smaller shipowners?
Strongly agree: 13%
Agree: 51%
Neutral: 5%
Disagree: 24%
Strongly disagree: 7%
What do you think is the solution for decarbonisation of the maritime industry?
Slow steaming: 16%
LNG: 8%
eFuels: 57%
Nuclear propulsion: 19%
Source: Riviera Maritime Media
On Riviera’s How shipowners can improve their CII compliance rating webinar panel were (left to right) Foreship chief technology officer Jan-Erik Rasanen, Aventra Group chief executive Juan Jose Gil, Silverstream Technologies chief technologist David Connolly and Wallem Group fleet manager Gavin Dsouza.
© 2023 Riviera Maritime Media Ltd.