In Shipping, Where's the Knowledge?
Pressured to cut costs and increase quality, shipping has squeezed its knowledge bases into increasingly narrow segments. The introduction of a new EU regulation on fluorinated greenhouse gases (F-GAS) illustrates some of these changes. There was a time when shipowners possessed large technical departments characterized by decades of experience and tremendous knowledge of ship operations. In some industrial shipping companies this is still the case, though they grow rarer. Now more and more finance-driven shipowners rely on global suppliers to ensure their compliance, competitiveness and long-term operational profitability. The knowledge needed to deliver this has sifted into classification companies, insurers, supply companies and consultants. The F-GAS Example A ban on disposable refrigerant cylinders in the EU won't keep any shipowners awake at night. It is the perfect example, however, of one of the multitude of changes that demand attention to ensure compliance. Increasingly, responsibility for monitoring and responding to these changes is picked up by suppliers eager to create added value for their customers on a global basis. "I recently held presentations on refrigerants at our customer seminars in Germany. I heard that several shipowners came specifically because they wanted to hear about refrigerants and regulations related to them," said Barwil Unitor Ships Service Product Group Manager Hans-Joachim Koblischke. Koblischke heads up the company's work on refrigerants. Koblischke is currently taking part on an advisory board that is looking at further regulation related to refrigerants and their use in industry. Barwil Unitor's teams of sales-people, suppliers and technicians in over 100 countries worldwide are eyes and ears in every shipping market. The F-GAS regulations came into effect this July, but Barwil Unitor was aware of the changes as early as last summer. One of the company's procurement managers working in Rotterdam and closely co-operating with the EU notified Koblischke, who analyzed the impact for customers and put together a campaign to notify and advise them of the change, and to offer a solution. "It's a case of knowledge transfer. We're close to the source because we're co-operating with the rules-making bodies. On one hand, we advise these groups on the feasibility of new rules for the maritime industry and, on the other, we help inform the market of new and upcoming rules," says Koblischke. The EU and IMO play ball This instance of EU regulation preceding a move by the IMO is one likely to be repeated more and more in the future. Like in the United States, where progressive policy in one state (California) is able to influence policy-making at the national level, the EU's environmental impetus can impel the IMO's environmental rules-making. "With respect to the F-GAS regulation, its main sphere of influence is within the EU. At the same time, global operators need to be aware that the nonrefillable (i.e. disposable) refrigerant cylinders will soon not be available in any EU ports. At the very least, it would require them to change their procurement routines," says Koblischke. F-GAS is, like the EU's emissions trading scheme, a European response to the carbon-reducing and global-warming promises made under the Kyoto Protocol. The EU, however, is the only authority so far to have acted decisively on the particular issue of fluorinated greenhouse gases. Said Peter Horrocks of the European Commission's team working on F-GAS: "As regards policy elsewhere there are many restrictions on the use of refillable containers for ozone-depleting substances (bans for instance) and this is also the case for the EC. Other countries do not have regulatory controls on FGases and in most instances non-refill-
EU F-GAS Regulation (EC 842/2006)
F-GAS, entering into force in the EU in June 2006, bans use of HFC-refrigerants in disposable cylinders after 4 July 2007 for the entire territory of the European Union and EU-flagged vessels. A relatively large market for disposable cylinders in Europe has disappeared practically overnight. As a result, even non-EUflagged vessels calling at European ports will be impacted by the regulation as they will not be able to get disposables in Europe. The refrigeration cylinders involved are used on all oceangoing vessels for air conditioning systems, for refrigerators and/or refrigerated containers.
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