08 May 2023 (Lloyd's List) - THE ROTTERDAM-SINGAPORE green and digital corridor is seeking commitment from liners regarding the number of future fuel-compatible vessels that will sail on the route. The initiative aims to meet target emission reductions with the help of major liners, including Maersk, Mediterranean Shipping Company, CMA-CGM, and Ocean Network Express.

During the second workshop held by the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore and Port of Rotterdam recently, the convenors did “a bottom-up exercise” and asked the shipping lines to decide on which fuel package they want to participate in, corridor lead Saskia Mureau told Lloyd's List.

“We know there are 88 vessels on the route, and we want to know if there are sufficient vessels to take part in the corridor to meet the target emission reduction,” said Ms Mureau, who is also director of customer digital at the Port of Rotterdam.

The corridor initiative, signed on August 2 last year, aims to have the first vessel in the water by 2027 and demonstrate all future fuel choices, she added.

“In the case of ammonia for example, we can plan to demonstrate the use of the fuel on a smaller type of vessels because [the engine is not available yet]. Whereas for other fuels, such as methanol, we can do the demonstration since the Port of Rotterdam has already done the ship-to-ship bunkering in 2021.”

The main challenge of implementing the green and digital corridor is managing a multi-fuel future.

“If you think of the type of grand infrastructure that we have for one fuel now, which is basically the fossil fuel, then you think of the need to multiply it to accommodate different fuels in the future, and you need to have economies of scale. That’s really going to be challenging.”

In the digitalisation space, the corridor aims to achieve mainly port call optimisation and digital trade, Ms Mureau said.

This includes a just-in-time approach for ships, slow steaming to minimize emissions, and paperless processes to speed up custom clearance.

“The milestone in the digitalisation space is that everyone agrees to adhere to the IMO standards,” Ms Mureau said. “It’s a big step."

The corridor is working with the Digital Container Shipping Association to build an Application Programming Interface (API) to adopt IMO standards. By the end of this year, a number of parties will deliver the API standards, allowing information exchange.

Ms Mureau said that the second workshop received encouraging feedback, with participants feeling more assured about meeting the target. She emphasized the importance of showing real work being done on existing initiatives, rather than increasing the number of corridors signed up.

“At Rotterdam, we are saying we are not increasing the number of corridors we are signing up until we do the real wok on the existing ones. Ultimately all that coordination will take up so much time.

“Sometimes, the green and digital corridors MOUs are politically driven. But for this particular Rotterdam-Singapore corridor, we are actually doing real work to do a gap analysis, the technical stuff, and to do the coordination with the different parts of the value chain,” she added.

The first workshop was held on August 2 last year itself, immediately after which the green corridor initiative was signed.

The parties will hold a third follow-up workshop in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. Ms Mureau noted that the corridor is working on collaboration with other parties outside the corridor, sharing knowledge and co-operating with other green container corridors, such as the one recently signed between the Port of Long Beach and Port of Los Angeles with the MPA.

“Different corridors have different target groups, but if you are talking about green container corridor there are only so few people in the container lines. You will need the same main people,” she said. “We are mindful of that and need to be able share our thoughts and that’s why I have been working with US team [in the Port of Long Beach and Port of Los Angeles] who recently signed green corridor initiative with the MPA. We need to share knowledge and collaborate.”

The second workshop aimed to address key challenges related to port call processes and digitalization opportunities, as well as discussed pathways to decarbonize shipping along the Singapore-Rotterdam route, according to the MPA's response to Lloyd's List queries.

Over 20 organizations representing various sectors of the maritime and energy value chains, including cargo owners, shipping lines, and fuel suppliers, participated in the workshop to address decarbonization challenges.

The MPA confirmed that different fuel types were discussed as options for implementing a green shipping corridor between Singapore and Rotterdam.

The workshop participants discussed the parameters needed to guide target setting on emission reductions, including the potential number of future fuel-compatible vessels that will sail on the Singapore-Rotterdam route.

In addition, the participants delved into the challenges and opportunities for various net-zero fuel pathways, including biodiesel, biomethane, methanol, ammonia, and hydrogen.

As part of the workshop agenda, participants discussed the readiness of various fuel supply chains, fuel handling safety, and scalability of each fuel. They also discussed how partners could work together on skills and training to prepare the workforce to manage the new fuels.

Discussions on the fuel pathways also touched on financial and regulatory levers and incentives that can be taken at the local, industry, and global levels to accelerate the development of the various net-zero fuels.

The workshop also addressed digitalization opportunities in the industry. The participants discussed the development and adoption of global data standards to enable interoperability across ship and port systems.

They also talked about pilot projects such as just-in-time vessel planning, which can demonstrate greenhouse gas reduction and improvements in operational efficiency.

Lastly, the MPA, the Port of Rotterdam, and the IMO Expert Group on Data Harmonization exchanged views and discussed ways to achieve alignment with global data standards under IMO, the International Hydrographic Organization, and ISO, among others.