IAPH publishes special whitepaper on the Environmental Ship Index (ESI), citing testimonials from world ports on how to use the index to facilitate vessel emissions reductions
The whitepaper, subtitled ‘Setting the standard for maritime environmental performance’ is aimed at providing a clear introduction to newcomers interested in joining this long-running scheme. ESI is used by 60 global ports and other maritime administrations for providing incentives to owners of over 6,600 ships to perform better in reducing air emissions than required by the current emission standards of the International Maritime Organization (IMO). This includes half of the world’s container fleet and a multitude of other vessel types.
ESI, which is a voluntary system, has become the established global standard for ports to incentivise the ongoing improvement of shipping’s environmental performance and has also been recognised by the IMO as the standard scheme offering port incentives for low- and zero-carbon ships in a recently-signed MOU with IAPH.
The new whitepaper explores the fundamentals of ESI and underlines its strengths via case studies and testimonials from ports across the globe, a major shipowner and citations from major transportation studies.
The whitepaper explores upcoming enhancements to ESI, including a fully-integrated calculation of greenhouse gas emissions, rewards for zero-emissions techniques, and a new at-berth module for the evaluation of the emissions performance of a given port call.
Managing Director Patrick Verhoeven commented : “At the recent IAPH 2023 World Ports Conference in Abu Dhabi, the clearly-identified need to effectively reward the efforts of shipowners who tangibly improve the environmental performance of their fleets was evident in the session held on “ship emissions at berth”. Ports are facing increasing demands from their community stakeholders to identify, quantify and demonstrably reduce vessel emissions in and around their premises, especially when they are located inside port cities. ESI will have a critical role to play in doing just that.”
A seminar by the MEDPorts Association in conjunction with IAPH “How to incentivise shipowners to reduce emissions” was held at the WTC located at the Port of Barcelona on 30th November and focussed on how ESI can positively impact Mediterranean shipping emissions reductions. IAPH will take part in the MEDPorts Digital Transformation, Innovation and Cooperation seminar in Casablanca , Morocco on 13th December to further engage with MEDPorts members as incentive providers.
ESI was created by major ports in cooperation with the IAPH eleven years ago, and has been fully integrated into the IAPH’s governance structure since 2020.
To view or download the whitepaper, click here
About IAPH
Founded in 1955, the International Association of Ports and Harbors (IAPH) has developed into a global alliance of 180 port authorities as well as 148 port-related businesses. Comprised of 84 different nationalities across the world’s continents, member ports handle approximately one third of the world’s sea-borne trade and well over 60% of the world container traffic. IAPH leads global port industry initiatives on decarbonization and energy transition, risk and resilience management, and accelerating digitalization in the maritime transport chain. The IAPH’s World Ports Sustainability Program has grown into the reference database of best practices of ports applying the UN Sustainable Development Goals and integrating them into their businesses – www.iaphworldports.org.