Propeller Club of Oslo’s Ogis sees maritime collaboration to support decarbonization

Shipping companies will need to collaborate to support decarbonization if the United Nations’ International Maritime Organization (IMO) votes to implement zero-emission rules at its October meeting, according to Sinem Ogis, the new Chair of the Propeller Club of Oslo (Norway).

In an interview with AJOT, Ogis related how she moved to Norway from the Netherlands where she had been working for the Dutch carrier Van Oord, a specialist in dredging and offshore wind installations.

This occurs at the same time as an impending October vote on IMO rules governing emission reduction by ships:

“So basically, right now, IMO is working on the global emission scheme to put pricing on the emissions. … But on the European side, the EU commission already moved forward with the emissions trading scheme. So, shipping has already pricing added like … carbon costs, carbon tax, when they call at EU ports.”

IMO decarbonization rules vote in October

Andrew Forrest, Executive Chairman of Australian mining company Fortescue, is urging the global maritime industry to support the IMO goals for zero emission shipping by 2050. The IMO goals will be voted on in October.

Forrest spoke to Nor-Shipping conference attendees in Lillestrom, Norway on June 3rd.

Forrest told Nor-Shipping attendees that the global maritime industry can do its part to support the IMO and its zero emission goals by 2050: “The October IMO meeting is vital to begin the implementation of zero emission vessels by 2050. Fortescue is working with ports around the world to adapt green fuels and green ammonia fuels.”

He added: “I do believe the IMOs on the right track and I say to everyone … do not tolerate your countries voting against or abstaining from the IMO vote in October. Vote for it.”

Ogis notes that “Focusing on emissions provides owners or charters emission estimation validation and analysis …that helps very much the companies in the short and long run, because then they know what is their carbon tax cost. So, they can prepare beginning of the year strategies to reduce that.”

Snippet 3 podcasts

Ogis is also doing outreach on decarbonization issues through a podcast series called Snippet 3. She related that a friend last year “brought the idea that she is launching now with a podcast platform, and she asked if I would like to host the Carbonization channel in that podcast for Snippet 3. And I said, ‘Yes.” So, Snippet is … just say it within three minutes … Because right now, I think we are all having … very busy lives, but it's getting more and more complex because information is out there and there is a lot of information that circulates in the internet. So, our idea was, ‘Okay, when people are listening to this podcast, they just probably need to just get an idea of what's that about.”

Propeller Club’s key to maritime collaboration

On June 3^rd, as its new Chair, Ogis led a delegation of Norwegian maritime professionals to the U.S. Embassy in Oslo to celebrate the inauguration of the Propeller Club of Oslo which she helped organize and lead. In attendance was International Propeller Club Executive Vice President Joel Whitehead and Propeller Club Presidents Ben Pennington, President Port of Chicago and Costis Frangoulis, President of the Propeller Club of Piraeus.

The next day, June 4^th, Ogis and the Propeller Club of Oslo made a presentation at the Nor-Shipping conference where 65,000 people attended from around the world.

Ogis said that with new IMO decarbonization rules being proposed, there is an increasing need for collaboration between maritime and shipping organizations and the Propeller Clubs can play an important role in sharing and disseminating information: “The advantage of the Propeller Clubs is that they are international. I was part of Propeller Club when I lived in Italy so I knew how they were connected to each other and organizing … activities and … professions. I came to the conclusion that, okay, perhaps it could be a good opportunity because Norway is such a very big shipping hub. And when we look at the history of the Propeller Club, (it is) oriented to the U.S. … and (oriented) toward the business opportunities between (the) U.S. and Norway.”