Large Korean ships to be green by 2025: Oceans ministry

Song Sang-keun, vice minister of oceans and fisheries, presents the Strategy for Decarbonization of International Shipping at the Sejong government complex on Tuesday. [NEWS1]

Korean ships 5,000 gross tons and above will be green by 2025 in line with the global trend to reduce carbon emissions, the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries announced Tuesday.

This is one of the goals of the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries announced Tuesday along with 71 trillion won ($55.3 billion) of investment through 2050.

The move is a preemptive measure to get ahead of global regulations for decarbonization. The ministry expects the International Maritime Organization (IMO) to raise its cutting of the sector's international carbon emissions by 50 percent to 100 percent in July.

The IMO is considering the introduction of a global shipping carbon tax, setting a price for each ton of greenhouse gas emissions shippers emit.

“We have proposed the goal of reaching carbon-neutrality for international shipping by 2050 prior to the IMO,” the ministry explained, boasting that it is the first Asian country to set the goal to reduce greenhouse gas emissions on a government-level.

To this end, the government plans to gradually convert its 867 international navigation vessels of 5,000 gross tons and above, which are subject to regulation by international organizations such as IMO, into zero or low-carbon ships. Most domestic ships use fuels with high carbon emissions, such as diesel and heavy oil.

In order to cope with European Union (EU) regulations for carbon emissions, Korea will first convert 26 liners, or 60 percent of those for use between Korea and the Americas and Europe.

Newly-built vessels will be converted ships with dual-fuel engines using alternative fuels such as e-methanol (combining biogenic CO2 with hydrogen created by water electrolysis) and LNG (liquefied natural gas) as well as introducing ammonia- and hydrogen-fueled ships.

Many small and mid-sized domestic shipping companies are postponing conversion to green fuels because of costs.

The Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries estimates around 1.8 trillion won is needed to build a green vessel by 2030. The government will create 4.5 trillion won-worth public fund through the Korea Ocean Business Corporation (KOBC) and the Korea Development Bank (KDB). It will also establish an additional fund with up to 1 trillion won to support conversion to green fuels and stabilization of management of small and medium-sized shipping firms.

The Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries expects a total of 8 trillion won to be invested for the strategy by 2030 and 71 trillion won by 2050.

The economic ripple effect is expected to be 17 trillion won by 2030 and 158 trillion won by 2050, the ministry added.

BY SEO JI-EUN [seo.jieun1@joongang.co.kr]