IMO Energy Efficiency Design Index for New Ships How to Improve the IMO Design Index

摘要

The International Maritime Organization, IMO is the United Nations' specialized agency for maritime affairs. It is the only appropriate body to adopt a binding international regulation on emission of greenhouse gas from shipping, which should be equally applicable to all ships, regardless of flag. The Organization is contemplating technical, operational and market based reduction measures, and one of the technical measures is the development of an Energy Efficiency Design Index for new ships. The index would for new ships mandate a maximum ratio between the environmental cost, which is the contribution to global warming through emission of CO_2 from combustion of fossil fuel, and the benefit for society, which is the performed transport work. This paper analyses what a ship designer can actually do, if his initial design fails to meet the required index and concludes that the measure that really matters is a reduction of the installed propulsion power and service speed. The proposed regulation could indirectly become a proposal for slow steaming.