Articles by Pablo Rodas-Martini:
Let´s avoid "SDGs washing" in the maritime industry
As part of my work on the decarbonization of the maritime industry, I have talked to many people from the maritime industry (shipping and ports) and read and analyzed (practically dissected) almost forty sustainability reports by container carriers, dry-bulk, tankers, and cruise companies, and ports (…). Here I talk about something I have come across during these talks but mainly during my readings: The mentions of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as part of the sustainability reports of the companies in the maritime industry.
DNV GL vs ABS: The discrepancy about the marine fuels of the future
It is only a chart but what type of chart—A decisive one! The projection of marine fuel consumption up to 2050! IMO 2020 seemed so big but it was almost nothing compared to it. The COVID-19 is so traumatic now, but even including the deep recession that is causing, it will not compare to it in the long term either. By "it" I am referring to the greatest challenge of the shipping industry for the decades to come: The decarbonization of the sector or, in other words, the full replacement of fossil fuels as marine fuels for carbon-neutral ones …
The Panama Canal needs a third reservoir to remain a viable option
On May 17, 2019, The New York Times published the following article: “What Panama’s Worst Drought Means for Its Canal’s Future.” As Carlos Vargas, the Executive Vice President for Environment, Water, and Energy, said to the NYT: “The last five months have been the driest dry season in the history of the canal.” The drought forced the Panama Canal Authority’s to impose draft limits on ships since, otherwise, the weight of their cargo could run aground the heaviest vessels.
When most planes are grounded, most ships are on the move
The shipping industry does not look as fancy as the aviation sector, and, certainly, it always appears much less in the news: Somehow the sky tends to be more appealing than the sea or was not Zeus, the ruler of the sky, the king of the gods, more powerful than his brother Poseidon? However, it is in times like this, when the airspace is almost empty, with thousands of planes grounded in airports across the world, and when we realize that humanity could (if needed) survive without planes …
Eight different languages, the same message: Ports are open!
Eight countries have been hit the hardest by COVID-19: Italy, Spain, Iran, the US, China, South Korea, Germany, and France. Eight countries, eight different languages, but in the eight the same message prevails: Ports are open. While citizens must confine themselves, while the streets look deserted, while only essential services are allowed to continue (…) the ports of the world, remain open!
A hidden treasure for the shipping industry
Everybody in the shipping industry knows that ships emit carbon emissions and that, consequently, the sector as a whole is contributing to the global warming of the planet. Many in the shipping industry also know that companies can buy carbon certificates to offset their emissions. Those purchases will not be registered with the International Maritime Organization (IMO) or with any government …
How much will the upcoming 2020 recession impact the shipping industry?
Almost any economist agrees that despite the rescue measures by central banks and governments, the global economy will suffer another global recession similar to the Great Recession of 2008. The impact of the coronavirus pandemic is too overwhelming since it is closing entire sectors of the economy and impacting most of the others negatively …
Will IMO 2020 reduce far fewer deaths than initially expected?
The reason for IMO 2020 is to save lives. The study elaborated by the Finnish Meteorological Institute: "Health Impacts Associated with Delay of MARPOL Global Sulphur Standards," and submitted at the 70th session of the Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC 70) in 2016, forecasted that 570,000 lives could be saved thanks to IMO 2020 …
The European Green Deal and the shipping industry
The EU released today the so-called "European Green Deal." The 24-page document will create waves in the coming weeks and months. For now, let's extract the main issues regarding the shipping industry. Of course, I will tackle this report in greater detail in a future article.
First, 1-0 in favor of the shipping industry: it is better inland waterways and rails than roads. "Multimodal transport needs a strong boost …
The opaque report about the shipping industry by CDP
In June 2019, CDP, an institution that in its logo has the words Disclosure Insight Action, published a report called “A sea change,” which was not transparent at all. The report was widely covered not just by the mainstream media but also by the shipping media, creating waves across the sector. At that time, I wanted to write an article about the report, but how was I going to criticize an institution widely reputed as one of the top world institutions in the field of disclosure of climate change information? …
The top six certainties of IMO 2020
IMO 2020 comes with a basket filled with certainties and uncertainties. As a mainstream economist in my previous professional life, I always avoided (when possible) forecasting key variables such as exchange rate, inflation rate, or interest rate. Macroeconomists love to play with very sophisticated models to forecast those type of variables but, as many years ago a colleague from Ph.D. told me, after he had been working for a large bank: “if the result that the model gives is weird, we just adjust the number as we consider it most feasible.” …
The study: "The Impact of Alliances in Container Shipping"
This is an "article" that I am not expecting that any of my Linkedin contacts working for some of the largest container companies will like. I am into shipping emissions and shipping decarbonization, but my previous professional "life" as a mainstream economist specialized in international trade, keeps my interest in the economic side of the shipping industry.
Three crucial mistakes in the making of IMO 2020
I have written and spoken in favor of IMO 2020, but each time I read further and listen about it more, and, in particular, each time I analyze more this decision, my concerns about it become more acute. I applaud the IMO for the courage to implement the decision from the 1st of January of next year — a measure that is nothing else than a tsunami across the five oceans of the world …
Is there room for another ´wet canal´ or for ´dry canals´ in the Americas?
In November 2013, I gave a conference at St Louis University in Missouri titled: "Is there room for another ´wet canal´ or for ´dry canals´ in Central America?" At the time I was working as an economist at the Inter-American Development Bank (IADB) in Washington DC. Occasionally I met the Director at the Bank from Nicaragua, and one of the topics that sometimes we discussed was the Nicaraguan canal …
The top 8 issues regarding the impact of the shipping industry on climate change
In the last months, a mantra about the impact of shipping on climate change has been repeated once and again: it is by far the most efficient mode of transport to carry goods across the globe and the industry barely contributes to about 2% to 3% of greenhouse gases emissions. However, leaving aside those general statements, which are genuinely the top critical issues about the shipping industry and climate change? …
One question, many answers: How much of the world’s trade is carried by sea?
A question that seems to be very simple cannot be answered easily by any institution nowadays: how much of the world’s trade travels by sea, air, and land? I know, that many in the shipping community will jump and say: by seaborne trade at least 90% of global trade! Why do we repeat and repeat that number in many places? Because this is the number that the International Maritime Organization (IMO) —a UN agency headquartered in London— has provided in many of its documents …
The only realistic way to decarbonize the shipping industry... for around 2070
The shipping industry is at the beginning of a profound technological transformation, not just because of the efforts to increase energy efficiency and IMO 2020, but mainly because of the need to decarbonize the sector. Some would say that the shipping industry is in the middle of that transition, but, for me, it is just a beginning since oil still remains the source of energy for most of the world fleet. Barely 200 or so ships are using LNG and, even if this number will double or triple for next year, as some sources mention …
The IMO is wrong... on SDGs
The International Maritime Organization (IMO) has been doing an excellent job lately, mainly concerning the implementation of MARPOL Annex VI and, in particular, with the implementation of IMO 2020 to reduce SOx from shipping emissions. In June this year, however, IMO approved its strategy to implement the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for the period 2020-2030, a "strategy" that barely has... two pages and suffers from some structural weaknesses.