10th Naftemporiki Shipping Conference-Vafias: Shipowners face “crazy” penalties while alternative fuels remain unavailable

Haris Vafias, laminitis and CEO of StealthGas and Imperial Petroleum Inc, stressed the request for rational decision-making regarding the shipping industry’s transition to greenish fuels while speaking astatine Naftemporiki’s 10th Shipping Conference, criticizing Europe implicit its argumentation choices successful this area.

“It is not imaginable to punish shipowners for utilizing lipid when there is presently thing available to regenerate it,” helium said, adding: “It is wholly unfair. If viable alternatives existed, we would gradually determination toward those alternatives — ammonia, ethanol, possibly adjacent atomic vigor successful the future.”

“But introducing a caller regularisation today that penalizes shipowners and forces them to wage tremendous amounts to the IMO — and who knows what ultimately happens to that wealth — is, successful my view, crazy.

Moreover, ammonia and ethanol person not yet demonstrated proven show successful motor combustion, while the indispensable supply infrastructure is besides lacking,” Vafias added.

As helium explained: “Shipowners are going to shipyards and ordering caller vessels, often astatine very precocious prices. Therefore we cannot beryllium punished due to the fact that engines gathering the latest emissions specifications are not being manufactured.”

“I judge this regularisation is unfair and will beryllium shelved for a agelong play of time, with important support from the United States.”

“We request to determination guardant with gradual, applicable steps that tin really beryllium implemented, alternatively than measures that magnitude to small much than wishful thinking.”

Asked however shipping and concern readying are affected by the various unilateral and ultimately contradictory restrictions imposed by antithetic states, helium replied:

“It is the biggest joke. There are regulations from the EU, the US and the United Kingdom. Some transactions whitethorn beryllium approved by the US but sanctioned by the UK, for example. You request a very strong ineligible section to negociate the perpetually changing sanctions landscape.”