Editorial comment
Welcome to the Summer 2025 issue of Dry Bulk! When considering the focus for this issue’s comment, I had originally been leaning towards the seemingly inescapable topic of tariffs and the impact of recent events on bulk shipping. Perhaps I would provide a play-by-play of some of the highs and lows (both figurative and literal) since ‘liberation day’? Another angle would be to try and decipher the US administration’s seemingly ineffable game plan and provide a forecast for the coming months.
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However, lacking both access to a crystal ball and the willingness to put myself through such a trial only to see the results be rendered obsolete by presidential decree before ink even hit the page, I’ve decided to spare myself – and, as a consequence, you – from yet another piece of commentary on this topic – especially with so many more able contributors already doing a fine job. So, with the meta-narrative introduction almost complete, where then to actually focus this comment? The weather, naturally.
The UK has just enjoyed its driest Spring in 50 years, and its warmest ever on record – all adding to the tally of disconcerting climate milestones that have been piling up over recent years. The Met Office reports that when looking at records dating back to 1884, eight of the last ten warmest Springs in the UK have occurred since 2000, with the three warmest occurring all since 2017. And that’s just the UK. Globally, temperatures are on the rise, driven largely by CO2 emissions from human activities, particularly industry. So, what can be done to drive done the carbon footprint of the shipping sector?
In a recent article on DryBulkMagazine.com (https://bit.ly/4kwLe0R), AXSMarine’s Esther Chua highlights a number of strategies for decarbonising the dry bulk shipping sector. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the adoption of low-carbon fuels like LNG, hydrogen, ammonia, and biofuels look set to play a major role in the process. Of these, LNG seems to be the most viable option, at least for now. Biofuels could be combined with conventional fuels and used in existing engines with minimal changes, thus providing an immediate impact. However, they the share same challenges of scalability, availability, and storage issues faced by hydrogen and ammonia.
Other routes to decarbonisation listed in the article broadly fall under the scope of optimising existing processes and include voyage planning and speed management, both of which can eliminate the need for idling near ports and burning excess fuel, thereby saving both time and money. Sharing a similar theme, operators should also be looking to maximise vessel utilisation wherever possible. Chua also suggests opting for larger vessels and fully loading ships to max capacity, thus reducing the number of voyages required and minimising per-unit emissions.
And no discussion of decarbonisation would be complete without mentioning carbon capture. Whilst onboard carbon capture is still very much in its infancy, pilot projects have shown that it could be used to capture up to 90% of emissions from shipping. Echoing the rollout of CCUS onshore, challenges involving storage, regulation, and energy requirements remain.
The journey to decarbonisation is, as Chua states, “complex”, but Dry Bulk will keep you up to date along the way!
