29.04.2014

Today's conference - a new step in the implementation of the "St. Petersburg initiative," - said in a statement on last April 28 in the Ministry of Russia of the International Conference on "green shipping" with a focus on environmentally friendly fuels, Deputy Minister of Natural Resources and Ecology of the Russian Federation Rinat Gizatulin.

The first conference devoted to topics Greening of Maritime Transport, chaired by Director of International Cooperation Department of the Ministry of Russia Nuritdinov Inamova , c involving the Ministry of Transport of Russia, the Russian Foreign Ministry, the Board of the Fund " Action Group on the Baltic Sea", the Helsinki Commission (HELCOM), the leading banks in project financing exporting companies, designers, operators, shipbuilders, port organizations. Among the guests of the event was attended by the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Kingdom of Denmark in Moscow.

In his opening remarks, R. Gizatulin noted that , despite the relative environmental cleanliness (in terms of emissions per ton of cargo), sea transport is a major source of emissions. Currently in the Baltic Sea is constantly more than 2,000 vessels, and in recent years increased their numbers and sizes. Deputy Minister noted that according to the decision of the International Maritime Organization (IMO) announced the Baltic Sea a special area of the emission control of sulfur compounds. From 1 January 2015 introduced stringent measures to reduce the sulfur content in fuel for ships in the EU. Thus, by 2015 , this figure should be reduced from 1% to 0.1%.

The conference program consisted of two clusters and a separate session, the role of public-private partnerships in support of environmental projects.

The first thematic section was devoted to the technological and design solutions in the field of maritime transport and greening and infrastructure together representatives of the largest suppliers of technology and research related to the use of cleaner fuels: companies "Gazprom export", "Maersk" (Denmark), "BaltGazBunker", "Wartsila" (Finland), "Haldor Topsoe" (Denmark), Lloyd's Register EMEA (UK), Vitkovice (Czech Republic), "Engineering Center of Shipbuilding", FSUE "Krylovskiy State Scientific Center" Russian Maritime register of Shipping.

The fact that the growth of interest in the use of cleaner fuels by European companies due to both environmental and economic factors, confirmed exhaustive amount of high-tech projects in various stages, aimed at transfer of maritime transport on the "green rate" as well as on the development of complex infrastructure necessary for sustainable operation of maritime transport system on clean fuel.

Presented various scenarios greening vessels in the short term, as well as possible alternatives: use of scrubbers, switching to low-sulfur diesel fuel, liquefied natural gas (LNG), compressed gas. Arguments in favor of the last two options are not just heard in the speeches. So, one of the clearest examples of the possibility of using LNG as a bunker is the largest passenger ferry Baltic Sea "Viking Grace." Symbolically, it is on this ship in January 2014 was first introduced draft Roadmap "green technologies and alternative fuels." The conference in the Ministry of Russia representatives of Finnish Transport Safety Agency introduced participants to the project roadmap, giving new impetus to its development as an international instrument for the implementation of joint actions and pilot projects for "green shipping".

The second thematic unit together representatives of the banking community interested in the promotion and use of financial instruments in the field of maritime transport greening . Program with the same name "green shipping" were among the priorities in the Russian market for key project finance organizations - European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and the German bank KfW, which are permanent members of the partners' initiatives St. Petersburg. The activity also provided export credit agency of Denmark (EKF) . Overall performances leitmotif: any projects need not only reputational advantages, but, above all, be profitable. Examples of Germany, Denmark and Finland have also confirmed that there are all prerequisites and commercially attractive opportunities for transformation in maritime transport in the scale of the entire Baltic region.

In turn, the Committee on Natural Resources, Environmental Protection and Ecological Safety of St. Petersburg told about the program assess the impact of emissions from shipping, air quality in the northern capital realized in 2011. Technique proved effective and unique to Russia.

In the final part of the Conference Co-Chair, the Secretary General of the Fund "Action Group since the Baltic Sea" (BSAG) M. Bergman noted that sounded inspiring presentation not only contributed to the project content "St. Petersburg initiative", but also demonstrated the possibility of public-private partnership throughout the region.

This idea was supported in his final address to the participants of the Conference N. Inamov noting that questions greening maritime transport is becoming increasingly important not only in the light of more stringent requirements on the part of international organizations , but also in connection with the urgent need to provide a supportive environment, biodiversity conservation and achieving sustainable development . "Joint active , we will strive to transform the 2020 Baltic Sea Region a model for "green shipping"," - he added.

One of the assignments of the final treatment was the drafting of possible topics of speeches and presentations of project proposals to the meeting in the CBSS in Turku (Finland), June 3-4, 2014.

Presentations by participants

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