Hong Kong engages partners to fuel maritime green shift

HONG KONG, Nov. 20 (Xinhua) -- A unified voice calling for bolder actions to decarbonize the maritime transport and ensure a green transition has been heard in the World Maritime Merchants Forum 2024, which officially concluded on Wednesday.

The three-day forum, a flagship event of the ongoing Hong Kong Maritime Week, has pooled wisdom from as many as roughly 1,500 stakeholders and practitioners from across the value chain covering shipping, ports, trade, logistics, law firms, financial institutions and industry authorities, on shoring up the resilience of the maritime industry and mapping out a sustainable future.

The shipping industry is known to be carbon intensive, responsible for roughly 3 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions alone, and 90 percent of traded goods worldwide are currently shipped by sea, showed data from the International Maritime Organization (IMO).

Business insiders said that the shift to alternative fuels like LNG, hydrogen, Ammonia and biofuels is fraught with challenges, from engine compatibility to significant investments. The urgency heightens as the deadline for ESG ratings draws near.

As one of the busiest seaports and a trading hub with a long history, Hong Kong is also wrestling with green transitioning, thirsty for technical and financial solutions. The participants hoped that the forum here in Hong Kong may shed light on the impact on the maritime industry from the evolving global dynamics and help give a boost to the IMO's 2050 decarbonization goal.

"To hit that target, the maritime and shipping industry first needs to accelerate the exploration of the ideal green fuel which will then speed up fleet renewal," Nicolas Bornozis, president of Capital Link, a U.S.-based advisory group specializing in shipping finance and investor relations services, told Xinhua of where Hong Kong's shipping industry should be heading to.

Hong Kong has an open financial and trade environment, with apparent advantages in professional services such as law, which can accelerate the financing and promotion of green fuels and smart technologies, Kapil Celly, executive director of Dubai-based Sharaf Group, told Xinhua.

Meanwhile, through the mature transport and logistics network in the Chinese mainland, multimodal transportation can be developed, further cutting down carbon emissions, said Celly, a first-time World Maritime Merchants Forum participant.

However, single regulations or financial incentive policies are insufficient to address fundamental issues, said Emanuele Grimaldi, chairman of the International Chamber of Shipping, when addressing the forum.

"What is crucial is to establish and improve the economic mechanisms for long-term investment in low-carbon and zero-carbon fuel technologies, promote the research and utilization of alternative fuels, and further intensify the application of digitalization in the maritime industry to support the development of a new global shipping ecosystem that is both environmentally sustainable and intelligent," Grimaldi suggested.

In Hong Kong, concrete steps were being taken toward that net-zero goal. In June, the HKSAR government launched the Green Incentive Scheme, the first of its kind in the world that is Carbon Intensity Indicator (CII)-related.

Last week, the HKSAR government promulgated the Action Plan on Green Maritime Fuel Bunkering, setting out clear strategies and actions to build Hong Kong into a high-quality green maritime fuel bunkering center.

The action plan, in particular, sets out a number of targets, including following the IMO's emission reduction target, reducing carbon emissions from Hong Kong-registered ships by at least 11 percent (compared to 2019) and ensuring that 55 percent of diesel-fuelled vessels in the government fleet switch to using green maritime fuels by 2026.

Hong Kong itself has a significant development demand for green fuel bunkering including LNG and Methanol, and should fully leverage its edges as an international financial, trade and shipping hub to translate its green vision into reality, Edward Liu, member of the Hong Kong Maritime and Port Board and chief representative of the China Office of International Chamber of Shipping, told Xinhua.

Liu believed that the recent steps on decarbonization by the HKSAR government have laid a legal foundation for the development of Hong Kong as a green maritime fuel bunkering center, testifying to the city's "can do" attitude.

"The city has already in place many of the key elements of a maritime cluster, such as shipowning, ship management, legal services, finance, technology, trading, logistics, education, human resources and more," Bornozis said, adding "Hopefully, Hong Kong can become an ideal platform to pool global wisdom and speed up the process of decarbonization."

"Let's work together. Governments, industry, academia, NGOs, energy providers, in particular, and buying the solution set together that actually works is fit for purpose and brings us to that goal of net zero for 2050," said Bud Darr, executive vice president for Maritime Policy and Government Affairs of MSC Group, at the forum.

"Because it's critical, not only for our industry, but also for the planet and to work for children, their children, and the world behind them," Darr said.