Report: Newbuild Design Efficiency Declined in 2016

A new study by CE Delft has found that new vessel design efficiency fell in 2016, reversing a trend of ever-increasing vessel performance in recent years. The decrease was led by new bulkers, tankers and gas carriers; efficiency was relatively unchanged for container ships and general cargo vessels, categories that had been showing consistent improvement in previous surveys. 

Still, a healthy proportion of the world's newbuilds are already outperforming the 2025 EEDI efficiency requirements. 14 percent of bulkers, 23 percent of tankers, 21 percent of gas carriers and half of all containers ships and general cargo ships delivered in 2016 met the 2025 design efficiency standard, according to the study’s authors. NGOs Seas at Risk and Transport and Environment said that this was a sign that IMO should strengthen the EEDI standards in 2017 and 2018, as they are already relatively easy to achieve. 

“Tighter ship design efficiency standards are an obvious low hanging fruit as the IMO embarks on the development of a comprehensive strategy to tackle climate change. The study shows both the potential of design standards to mitigate future ship greenhouse gas emissions and the very real danger that if the IMO doesn’t act quickly then hard-won design efficiency gains will be lost," said John Maggs, senior policy advisor at Seas at Risk. 

The report was published in advance of a meeting of the IMO's Marine Environment Protection Committee, where flag states and other stakeholders will be discussing emissions policy and fuel efficiency – including the possibility of a carbon dioxide emissions target. IMO says that an interim greenhouse gas strategy for global shipping is set to be adopted at an MEPC meeting in the spring of 2018.