A vicious cycle
Dependence on old ships has become the norm
FOR Fiji and the rest of the Pacific, dependence on old ships, often at the end of their economic life and often highly inefficient and expensive to fuel and maintain has become the business-as-usual model. University of the South Pacific’s Micronesian Centre for Sustainable Transport scientific and technical adviser, Dr Peter Nuttal said it had created a vicious cycle that left many countries dependent on outdated and inefficient assets that provide only a marginal service.
“Especially for outer island and maritime communities, the cost and quality of shipping is a key crosscutting issue impacting all aspects of social and economic development,” he said.
“Shipping is our equivalent of highways and railways in other countries; it provides the basis of all connectivity.
“The current climate crisis actually provides an opportunity to address this long-standing problem and deliver a shipping sector with lower overheads and operational costs and better services”
He said political willingness and private sector buyin were now needed to effect the essential change.
There seems to be multiple solutions to achieving full decarbonisation in Fiji.
“Ultimately to get to 100 per cent we will need new fuels and there is now substantial work happening internationally on methane, ammonia and hydrogen but there are immediate steps that can be taken now,” he said.
“At the small boat scale, a transition from twostroke to four-stroke outboards nets around 40 per cent in efficiency savings.
“Over time we then need to transition to electric motors and fuel cells. For larger vessels, retrofits and new builds using wind hybrids — using soft sails and wind rotors in conjunction with conventional motor propulsion — can achieve savings between 10 per cent and 40 per cent with current technology for a substantial range of ships.”
IMPLEMENTING decarbonisation changes would not only allow Fiji to revitalise shipping but also its boat building and local support industries.
This was highlighted by University of the South Pacific’s Micronesian Centre for Sustainable Transport scientific and technical adviser, Dr Peter Nuttal when describing about the multiple solutions of full decarbonisation.
“Our colleagues at SPC are experimenting with solar to offset auxiliary power on government ships in Vanuatu and Samoa,” he said.
He said operational savings from better hull paints, maintenance, engine upgrades, etc. would all contribute.
“Implementing these changes also allows us to revitalise the Fiji boat building and local support industries that have fallen into such disrepair over the past 30 years,” Dr Peter said.
“Ten years ago, we scoffed at the thought of electric hybrid cars in Fiji. Today they are one of the most popular models.
“These changes are now coming to shipping. Fossil fuels are large, often the largest cost to running a ship and the maintenance of the motors and all related ship infrastructure is a substantial part of the ships budget.”
He said if they could replace the fuel and reduced the need for maintenance on fossil fuel motor related systems, then overall there was reduction in the overall cost of the service.
“The Fijian drua were, in their day, the fastest and most efficient ships in the world. They were built in their thousands and were marveled at by the Europeans who first visited Fiji.
“To quote the great statesman, Ratu (Sir) Kamisese Mara ‘We carry the cultural and historical inheritance of ocean navigators of peerless skill and their courageous kin who crossed vast distances before the tribes of Europe had ventured forth from their small part of the Earth’.
“In preparing for moving to a new generation of shipping, it makes enormous sense to also invest in valorising and reinvigorating this proud cultural legacy and this is also central to the partnership we are building.”