Normalized Indicator for Carbon Emissions of ships

Several technical and operational short-term measures are currently being discussed at the International Maritime Organization (IMO) in relation to the adopted target of reducing CO2 emissions per transport work by at least 40% by 2030 compared to 2008. While all of these proposals consider the ship as the unit of concern, each one is built around a carbon intensity indicator either technical or operational in nature. The difference lies in the fact that a technical indicator looks at the capabilities of a ship under perfect deployment conditions, while an operational indicator is also concerned with the way the ship is operated in practice. Previous research has identified limitations for both these approaches. A technical indicator is a rather theoretical construct, being a snapshot of a ship’s performance in ideal sea conditions (no wind and no waves) and at maximum draught, which rarely happens in real life. On the other hand, an operational indicator cannot be used for benchmarking as its value is affected by factors either completely out of the operator/charterer’s control (sea-state, weather conditions, etc.) or partially controllable (volume of cargo, speed, etc.) in response to market conditions.
NICE intends to work on both these approaches in order to develop an indicator that can effectively reflect all attributes of a ship’s energy efficiency. Detailed technical and operational data of a fleet will be analyzed in order to estimate the effect of weather on fuel consumption, design a weather-normalized indicator and apply it on standardized pre-determined operational cycles that the project will develop for different ship sizes. Furthermore, the project will broaden the unit of concern from the single ship to a company or a fleet of ships. In this way, NICE attempts to capture the network effect on ship performance and reach the IMO carbon intensity targets at minimal cost for the ship operators/owners.
In addition to developing an indicator suitable for monitoring purposes within the company, NICE aspires to contribute to the policy dialogue with a combined technical/operational approach, thus, strengthening Denmark’s position at IMO, adding to its prestige as a maritime nation and contributing to the Blue Denmark vision.