Solomons maritime industry calls for energy efficiency

Solomon Islands maritime industry calls for energy efficient operations to reduce greenhouse gasses

16th February 2018

Solomon Islands, Honiara – The Solomon Islands Ministry of Infrastructure and Development, Maritime Safety Administration (SIMSA) together with national ship operators, have called for greater investment in energy efficient operations to reduce greenhouse gasses. The call was made at the National Workshop on Energy Efficient Operations of ships, which was delivered by the Maritime Technology Cooperation Centre in the Pacific (MTCC-Pacific) from 13-16 February.

Today there are 273 vessels operating in Solomon Islands waters including 252 vessels of more than 15 meters and 68 vessels of more 50 meters. All of them use fossil fuels for their operations. This has a significant impact on the level of greenhouse emissions of Solomon Islands that requires immediate action to reduce the impact to the environment and contribute to climate mitigation.

The three-day workshop provided participants with an understanding of the latest developments at the international level; new technologies, tools and methods available to monitor and reduce fuel oil consumption from the operations of ships in the Solomon Islands, in order to contribute to national efforts to reduce greenhouse emissions and Nationally determined Contributions (NDC).

The Workshop participants agreed to implement relevant actions to continue progress towards safe and energy efficient shipping in Solomon Islands and recognised priority actions such capacity building, implementation of laws and standards and providing access to new technologies.

In his welcome remarks, Solomon Islands Permanent Secretary for the Ministry of Infrastructure and Development, Jimmy Nuake, highlighted the commitment of Solomon Islands saying, “Increasing the energy efficiency of the maritime industry is a priority for our nation and for our region. The Solomon Islands Government is committed to lead by example and we are calling on leaders in every sectors of our maritime industry to join us in making energy efficient operations a priority.”

SPC’s (Maritime) Transport Greenhouse Gas Advisor reiterated the commitments from MTCC-Pacific, its Host Institutions and its partners to assist the Pacific region for climate mitigation in the maritime industry and was “pleased with the commitment shown by leaders in Solomon Islands and confident that the knowledge shared during this week will make a positive impact towards efficiency targets”.

MTCC-Pacific is one of the five centres established in the world and forms part of the Global MTCC Network (GMN), implemented by the International Maritime Organization (IMO) and funded by the European Union. The Pacific Community (SPC) host MTCC-Pacific in collaboration with the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP) as part of its approach to support sustainable maritime transport in the Pacific with a focus on safety and energy efficiency of domestic shipping.

MTCC-Pacific technical assistance is provided in conjunction with the SPC’s Pacific Islands Domestic Ship Safety (PIDSS) programme that aims at supporting domestic ship operators implement safety management systems on board their vessels. This constitutes a consistent approach in raising safety and efficiency standards in domestic shipping. PIDSS is implemented in 8 countries, 66 companies and 114 domestic ships in the Pacific.

Similar national workshops and ships visits will be organised in other Pacific Islands Countries in 2018.

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