An analysis of available solutions for commercial vessels to comply with IMO strategy on low sulphur

Abstract

The International Maritime Organization (IMO) strategy reduces ship emission to 2020 and zero in 2050, the ship-owners and ship operators are looking for economic solutions to meet the new emission requirements. The available solutions include using Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) or sulphur-free-fuel, switching form high sulphur fuel oil (HSFO) to marine gas oil or distillate fuels, using very-low-sulphur fuel oil or compliant fuel blends and using scrubber/exhaust gas cleaning system on the ship, which allows operation on regular HSFO. The cost of changing and using fuel may be too high as a barrier for Vietnamese ship-owner. Therefore, advantages and disadvantages of available options need to analysis. In this article, the pros and cons of available options were analysed by using thematic PLEET analysis that considering political, legal, economic, environmental, technological and sociological aspects. The results show that using compliant blended fuel is a priority solution for the most Vietnamese commercial ship-owners as well as using LNG fuel will be a solution for building new ships. It is expected that this research would make any contribution to improving the efficiency of commercial ships to satisfy the IMO’s strategy.