Special Advisor / EUSBSR Policy Area Ship Coordinator
Finnish Transport and Communications Agency Traficom
Finland
milla.harju@traficom.fi
Despite of being established 15 years ago, the EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region (EUSBSR) does not necessarily ring a familiar bell to many. It was designed as a tool to address mutual challenges that the Baltic Sea countries faced in order to find solutions to them together. Its three main objectives are 1) Save the Sea, 2) Connect the Region, and 3) Increase Prosperity.
The Strategy entails 14 policy areas (PA) of interest, which each have their own objectives and actions - PA 'Ship's' ambitious objective for instance aspires to turn the Baltic Sea into a model region for clean shipping, with the following three action items:
- Support measures including digitalization in reducing emissions from shipping,
- Support research on emerging thematic challenges related to clean shipping and its impact on the environment and wildlife in the Baltic Sea;
- Support development of shore-side facilities to enhance clean shipping measures including infrastructure for climate-neutral and clean fuels.
These actions are about to be imposed for scrutiny, as the whole EUSBSR Action Plan is due for an update over the next two years. Each PA will be taking a good look on their current state, achievements, and the most topical issues in their field: are all the actions relevant, achievable, measurable? The update will in effect bring in a fresh breath of (sea) air via re-evaluated, topical themes.
As we embark to the task, it is necessary to ponder what is currently taking place, and coming in the field of clean shipping. Currently, or still, the most prominent issue of course is the question of the alternative fuel: what will it be? Will the industry choose ammoniac over hydrogen? Would electricity even be viable for longer voyages? Are biofuels really a better option, when you look at potential spillages impact on marine life? What are the factors that we should consider when making the choice, and who has the authority to prioritize them?
We are also hearing a lot more about underwater noise, national bans on waste water discharges into the sea (finally!), development of onshore power supplies (OPS) and of course - the FuelEU Maritime's impact on industry. Characteristically to the Baltic Sea issues, one cannot really address one challenge without it having an impact to all of them - which from other perspective of course means that by solving a problem you are at least half way there to fix another one! Power is in numbers, and the more projects and initiatives we have across the area, the quicker we can come to best practices and solutions. The PAs act as networks or umbrellas accommodating all of those projects and initiatives, therefore connecting minds and efforts and ensuring that no wheels are invented simultaneously in other ends of the region.
One of the main tasks of those coordinating the EUSBSR's political areas, is to act as bridges between the projects and the political level. In order to ensure that the forest is seen from the trees from both ends, a continuous dialogue must take place and the messages should also be shown to have an effect in the long run. One of PA Ship's recent projects, EMERGE, set on to 1. comprehensively quantify and evaluate the effects of a range of potential emission reduction solutions for shipping in Europe, and 2. develop more effective strategies and measures to reduce the environmental impacts of shipping. Now, after finishing their project and publishing results, they have succeeded in submitting three information documents to the International Maritime Organisation (IMO), which will potentially be taken into consideration in the Sub-committee on Pollution Prevention and Response, and if all goes well, have an impact on the upcoming regulation concerning scrubber water discharge.
Projects are producing incredible amounts of highly valuable data in all corners of the Baltic Sea Region, and this is just one example of how that data could make a difference. PA Ship aims to ensure, that the projects that are advancing clean shipping efforts will get footing and as much spotlight as possible to make their results seen and heard in the maritime sector, and also set its own actions to match the tasks accordingly.