The Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries announced on Feb. 14 that every international navigation vessel of South Korea that is 5,000 tons or more would go green by 2050 and government and public funds would be prepared to assist shipping companies.

The plan is to reach zero carbon emissions in international shipping by 2050. According to it, a total of 118 ships will go green by 2030 and the number will reach 867 in 2050. The former includes 26 liners for use between South Korea and the Americas and Europe, which are 60 percent of such vessels.

New ships will be designed and built to use eco-friendly fuels such as e-methanol and LNG. Ammonia- and hydrogen-fueled ships will be developed at the same time. Those that cannot be remodeled will be equipped with high-efficiency generators and the like.

This conversion is a highly costly process. In most cases, the cost of building a green ship is approximately 130 percent of that of building a non-green ship. South Korean shipping companies’ related additional cost burden until 2030 is estimated at 1.8 trillion won. In this regard, Korea Ocean Business Corporation, Korea Development Bank, Export-Import Bank of Korea and Korea Asset Management Corporation will prepare 4.5 trillion won or so and provide loans and the like.

Source: BusinessKorea