Hong Kong charts sustainable and smart future for shipping
Hong Kong goes smart and green with its port operations
Hong Kong goes smart and green with its port operations
The global shipping industry, which handles most of the world's trade, is at a critical point as it navigates towards a sustainable and technologically advanced future.
Governments accelerated the move away from the use of fossil fuels in the industry in April after negotiators at the International Maritime Organization (IMO) agreed to mandatory greenhouse gas emissions limits and a global price on emissions of ships that exceed them.
These measures will be binding on large ships, which account for 85 per cent of the industry's carbon dioxide emissions. The deal, if ratified in October, will come into force in 2028 and lead to a 30 per cent base target reduction in emissions – on 2008 levels – by 2030. The IMO is aiming for net-zero emissions by 2050.
For a major shipping hub such as Hong Kong, this transformation presents both challenges and exciting opportunities. Yet industry players in the city have already been hard at work preparing for the changes.
Horace Lo, group managing director of Modern Terminals, says Kwai Tsing Container Port began to convert its diesel-powered engines to electric as far back as 20 years ago.
'We started our process 15 [to] 20 years ago,' says Horace Lo, group managing director of container terminal operator Modern Terminals, a major operator at the city's Kwai Tsing Container Port. 'We have spent a lot of effort to convert all the diesel engines to electrify them, or turn hybrid and then go to finally fully electric.'
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