Spectacularly moored on the Thames in downtown London, Fure Vinga opened up to 500 invited visitors as the first intermediate tanker in the world which will reach UN 2050 climate targets for shipping. 170 IMO delegates, meeting in London to advance global restrictions of greenhouse gas emissions, came onboard to see how the Swedish shipping company Furetank has turned their targets into practice.
Furetank and the Government of Sweden invited all international delegations attending the 78th meeting of the UN marine environment protection committee (MEPC), to a vessel demonstration and guided tour along with shipping professionals.
The MEPC 78 meeting focuses on tackling climate change by cutting greenhouse gas emissions from shipping, which makes this study visit highly relevant. Three years ago Furetank was invited to the committee to tell about their new vessels, reducing environmental emissions through innovative design. At the event they got to experience one of the vessels first-hand.
– It is amazing to see how people react, they didn’t think it was possible to carry this through. With this event we want to convince decision makers that it is possible to introduce tougher requirements to reduce emissions: the industry will solve it. Furetank is a family-owned company. We invested what we could to make a positive impact on the future, says Lars Höglund, CEO of Furetank.
IMO: ”Quiet, clean and green”
The Vinga vessel series consists of 8, soon to be 10, sister vessels deploying state-of-the-art technology like LNG/LBG propulsion, a battery hybrid solution, shore power connection and several other innovative features reducing fuel and energy consumption.
The result is extensively lowered emissions of CO2, SOx, NOx and hazardous particles. Already today the vessel series fulfills its part of the IMO’s total emission target for the world fleet: to halve greenhouse gas emissions up to year 2050.
– This ship is very quiet, very clean and very green: it represents the image we want for the entire industry. This is a very tangible result of the progress and regulations we made at the IMO. When you visit and explore a ship like this, you realize that the transition is possible and not something for the future, it’s the present. It demonstrates that the private sector can support and accelerate greener shipping, says Arsenio Dominguez, Director of the IMO Marine Environment Division, after taking the guided tour around Fure Vinga.
Aligned with Sweden’s climate goals
The Swedish ambassador in London, Mikaela Kumlin Granit, held a speech stating that by 2045, Sweden is to have zero net emissions of greenhouse gases. Transforming the transport sector is key.
– It is wonderful to be here to help showcase Swedish solutions for the green transition and especially in shipping. I am deeply impressed by the enthusiasm that I feel here, seeing these entrepreneurs turning a vision into reality. It is completely aligned with Sweden’s climate goals and that is why the government sees this as a fantastic example of what we can do.
