AcidNews June 2015
CE Delft has released a study, commissioned by Brussels-based NGOs Seas at Risk and Transport & Environment, which calculated the Estimated Index Values (EIVs) of new ships built between 2009 and 2014, and concluded that the majority of container and general cargo ships built in recent years already meet the IMO’s Energy Efficiency Design Index (EEDI) standards set for 2020.
Of the ships in the study that were built in 2014, some 34 per cent of container ships and 43 per cent of general cargo ships also met the EEDI target for 2030.
The study confirms that the EEDI targets need substantial revision since the current standards fall short on reflecting best practice or the pace with which improvements in efficiency can be brought about.
The study identified a large variation in the EIV of ships of similar type and size, indicating that large additional fuel savings and associated reductions in CO2 emissions would be possible if all ships were built to the best available designs and technologies.
The EIV improvements have coincided with increases in average design speed and decreases in main engine power for a number of ship categories, which suggests an improvement in hull or propulsion efficiency. The findings also suggest that, if design speeds were kept constant, larger improvements in design efficiency would have been possible.
More information at: http://www.maritime-executive.com/article/whos-right-about-energy-efficiency