Liberian Registry introduces green ship initiative

The Liberian Registry said it has recently entered into a partnership with US-based consultancy EfficientShip Finance (ESF) to launch an environmental initiative designed to reduce global carbon emissions, enhance fleet efficiency and competitiveness, and promote a greener Liberian fleet.

The Liberian Registry is also offering special tonnage tax discounts for ships participating in this green initiative. Each ship in the programme will be entitled to a 50 per cent annual tonnage tax discount in the first year, and up to a 25 per cent discount in both the second and third years, it said ina statement.

ESF will provide the financial capital needed for each project, and assume responsibility for technology performance and fuel volatility risk, along with the technical supervision and monitoring to perform retrofits. Owners and operators remit to ESF a proportion of the amount they save on fuel costs, or which they receive in the form of additional negotiated hire. The retrofit projects require no upfront capital by owners and, since the payments are always a share of the savings, there is an ongoing net benefit to customers, according to the statement.

The ESF global programme includes an optimal mix of fuel efficiency retrofit solutions for each target vessel, based on its trading pattern, age, size, speed, and consumption. The technologies used represent the most widely accepted and tested solutions in the market including, among others, wake-improving ducts, rudder bulbs and fins, protracted tip propellers, engine improvements, smooth coatings, and performance and trim optimising software.

For ships trading within ECA zones, the programme may include the installation of exhaust scrubber systems or the conversion of engines to LNG dual-fuel, to comply with emissions requirements which came into effect on 1 January, 2015.