PortEconomics members Pierre Cariou, Francesco Parola and Theo Notteboom are the authors of a paper entitled “Towards low carbon global supply chains: A multi-trade analysis of CO2 emission reductions in container shipping”. This study has just been published in the highly-ranked academic journal International Journal of Production Economics (volume 208, pages 17-28).
The International Maritime Organization (IMO) has agreed in 2018 on a reduction of total greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from international shipping. The study identifies the key factors affecting CO2 emissions by container ships and measures how much has been already achieved in the past decade by offering multi-trade comparisons of the situations in 2007 and 2016. The paper concludes to a general decrease in annual CO2 emissions estimated at 33% since 2007. Two factors explain this decrease: first, the CO2 fuel efficiency in grams per TEU-km (−53%) due to the general decrease in speed (slow steaming) and change in technology (such as more fuel efficient engines), and second, the decrease from changes in network design leading to less distance travelled (−21%). One factor counterbalances these positive effects, i.e. the increase in the total deployed fleet capacity, partly due to an increase in the number and average size of vessels (+81%). Pierre’s, Francesco’s and Theo’s analysis shows that such changes are trade-dependent and that individual factors contributed in different ways to variations in CO2 emissions. The Asia- South America trade (0.6%) was subject to the lowest decrease in total emissions, whereas Europe-Africa and Asia-North America trade lanes recorded the strongest decrease. We believe our study offers relevant insights for practitioners and policy makers.
The study can be accessed by free until January 13, 2019 via the following link.
The study won the “IAME2018 Best Conference Paper Award” at the 26th annual conference of the International Association of Maritime Economists which took place in Mombasa, Kenya in late September 2018.
