RINA Hellenic Technical Committee: Going forward with Decarbonization
The recent meeting of the RINA Hellenic Technical Committee (HTC) brought together stakeholders from all parts of the shipping industry to discuss the impact of new regulations (EU ETS), the way forward for decarbonisation, and the latest developments in SERTICA to enhance operational efficiency and safety.
With IMO 2030 and 2050, the shipping sector has some important decarbonization goals to meet. Operators face a hurdle not only in determining whether technology will work for future new buildings, but also in figuring out what they can accomplish with their current fleets. This was a core theme at the recent HTC meeting, held at Ekali, Athens, at the end of April.
Giosuè Vezzuto, Executive Vice President Marine at RINA, as the first speaker of the HTC, updated the guests about the developments of the company, focusing on the importance of the Piraeus office at the marine sector. He added, “The RINA classed fleet has reached 77 million GT (March 2024), the SERTICA Suite is installed today on over 3,000 vessels and we are called by more and more ship designers to Approve in Principle novel concepts to face the decarbonisation challenges. I am very proud of the recognition that the shipping market as a whole is giving us by choosing RINA as a partner for all encompassing solutions.”
Spyros Zolotas, Senior Director, Marine South EMEA Region at RINA, said, “These days, shipping must be viewed as an ecosystem, where knowledge sharing is vital. Getting together at events such as the HTC is essential to reaching the goals of our Industry. It allows us to discuss real issues, understand concerns, and share experience.”
The HTC meeting, jointly chaired by Theo Baltatzis, General Manager, Technomar Shipping, and Akis Tsirigakis, CEO, Nautilus Energy Management Corp., covered many topics, including an update on regulations EU ETS, propulsion systems to achieve decarbonization goals, aspects and impacts of alternative fuels, and the coming challenges for new builds. It also incorporated presentations from important guests. Tom Sand, Vice President of Marine and Ports at ABB, updated the audience on the Azipod propulsion system and Dr. Christos Papadopoulos, Professor at NTUA, spoke about wind assisted propulsion. Together they covered a topic “Harvesting the Wind” and how to achieve the expected energy savings from the wind, overcoming the difficulties that are being experienced. Additionally, Mr. Li Xin, SDARI Senior Engineer, presented the “Developments in Ship Design”.
Elias Boletis from RINA Marine Consulting talked about how we can support the existing vessels in the path to decarbonization and he focused on the retrofit projects proposed by RINA. Antonis Trakakis, RINA Marine Technical Director, and Marinos Anastasiou, RINA Key Account Manager New Buildings, focused on the challenges in making choices today for the future vessels.
“Numerous potential solutions exist to support the decarbonization of the shipping industry; nevertheless, throughout the HTC, it became evident that many professionals are uncertain about novel concepts and require workable solutions that would advance our current state of affairs and enable businesses to function as necessary. There won’t be a single solution, so we need to keep looking into all possibilities.” continued Zolotas.
Dimitris Zisimopoulos, RINA Digital Sales Manager, talked about SERTICA, a comprehensive portfolio used by ship owners and ship managers worldwide. SERTICA digitalizes maintenance, procurement, HSQE, crewing, performance, logbooks and reporting. It manages vessels and fleets in all technical, operational, and compliance aspects.
Zolotas commented, “Digital tools are paramount. They cover strategies to lessen human error and streamline onboard procedures. We can reduce emissions by improving ship performance, operational efficiency, and route optimization through the analysis of fleet data. Naturally, cyber security goes hand in hand with digitalization. This is an issue that the committee also addresses, and RINA is investing heavily in to support the maritime sector.”
Anna Karmiri, Manager of RINA Piraeus Environmental Plan Approval, updated the guests on EU ETS & Fuel EU Maritime regulation. She announced the launch of Leonardo Emissions, a digital tool that serves as an enabler to achieve the industry’s decarbonization goal by turning raw data into sustainable operations.
Zolotas concluded, “The discussion about decarbonization is at full steam. Leonardo Emissions is a tool to put us a step forward on better and successful results on EU ETS requirements. A wealth of useful information was presented at the HTC meeting to help shed light on the problems and potential solutions. Working together will enable us to achieve our objectives.”
RINA, leading certification and engineering company, provides a wide range of services across the Energy, Marine, Infrastructure & Mobility, Certification, Industry and Real Estate sectors. With revenues in 2023 of 797 million euros, 5,380 employees and 200 offices in 70 countries worldwide, RINA is a member of key international organizations and an important contributor to the development of new legislative standards. www.rina.org
