Brian Ladin is a Dallas-based investment professional and entrepreneur and the founder and CEO at Delos Shipping, who sees firsthand the effects shipping vessels have on the environment.
Knowing many CO2 emissions come from his ships, Ladin has pledged to take steps to minimize emissions.
Every year, vessel emissions contribute 3% of global CO2 production. Ladin provides a few ways to reduce emissions immediately.
For example, the concept of anti-fouling vessel coatings has become very popular in recent years. These coatings eliminate the layer of live organisms that often make their home on ship surfaces and propellers. This step aims to decrease their drag on a ship and improve its efficiency, which reduces 38% of the ship’s emissions.
Ladin suggests switching to a low-sulfur fuel option, which uses 0.5% instead of 3.5% sulfur. This change is vital because this chemical contributes heavily to carbon emissions. And these fuels are also more efficient, though their cost is a little higher, which has limited their use internationally.
Enhanced design efficiency is also essential. By streamlining ship-shape and cutting back on overall size, it could cut fuel consumption by 15%. This step would not affect the shipping capacity of a vessel. Instead, it would trim unnecessary and inessential areas to make its movement through the water more effectively.
This option would be the most costly as it would require a redesign and replacement of thousands of ships. As a result, many companies are likely to balk at this option and try to find others that are less demanding on their finances.
For instance, Ladin suggests that slow steaming, a new movement within the shipping field, could significantly reduce the industry’s CO2 emissions.
Slow steaming is the practice of cutting back on the vessel’s top speeds to reduce how much waste they produce. Even a reduction as low as 5% could cut potential emissions by 19% per vessel. Combine that with a full-fleet speed reduction, and the net results could be quite beneficial.
