World’s Most Environmentally Friendly Ship Continues to Impress Decision Makers
On the last day of her visit to Copenhagen, the world’s most environmentally friendly ship, the Viking Lady, impressed mayors of the world with her significant reductions of harmful carbon and NOx emissions. Richard Branson, the founder of Virgin Group was equally impressed by the Viking Lady when he toured the vessel yesterday, and encouraged politicians to set targets for the transportation industries. The consortium behind the Viking Lady confirms that technology to significantly reduce emissions from shipping is already available, and say they welcome tighter regulation of the industry.
Copenhagen, 17 December 2009 – The world’s most environmentally friendly ship, the Viking Lady, continued to impress international decision makers on the last day of her visit to Copenhagen. Earlier today, the Norwegian supply ship, ordinarily in operation in the North Sea, set out on a Copenhagen cruise to showcase cutting edge environmental technology to a group of mayors from major international cities. The mayors are currently visiting the Copenhagen Climate Summit for Mayors. The mayors’ cruise, hosted by Copenhagen’s Lord Mayor Ritt Bjerregaard, took place less than 24 hours after Virgin Group founder Richard Branson encouraged politicians to decide on targets for the transportation industries. The consortium behind the ship welcomes the idea of tighter regulation.
“We don’t need a new moon landing to be able to cut emissions from shipping considerably. What the industry needs are regulatory incentives to implement new, environmentally friendly technology. Actually the considerable growth that is expected in shipping over the next 40 years can be achieved without additional CO2 emissions – by using technology already available. Add to that the likelihood that new technologies will be invented during that time, and shipping can actually continue its expected growth and still cut emissions to half its current level,” said Per Wiggo Richardsen from FellowSHIP, the consortium behind the Viking Lady.
Shipping is by far the most cost and environmentally effective means of transportation of goods, and currently transports 85% of the world’s trade. The CO2 emissions from shipping total 3% of the world’s total CO2 emissions. The Viking Lady’s advanced technology cuts CO2 emissions by 20% and reduces harmful NOx emissions by amounts equal to the emissions from 22,000 cars in a year. Environmentally friendlier ships also consume less fuel and hence contribute to cut operational costs.
“Seeing that it is indeed possible for the shipping industry to reduce air pollution so significantly, is good news for major ports and coastal cities like Copenhagen. Air pollution is a major concern in cities all over the world, and eliminating emissions from ships will impact significantly on air quality and public health. Add to that the benefits to our global climate, and there is no doubt that we should place stricter requirements on which ships we allow near our cities and what they are allowed to emit,” said Ritt Bjerregaard, Lord Mayor of Copenhagen.
After her visit to Copenhagen, the Viking Lady will return to active duty in the North Sea.
More information and downloadable photos + TV footage: www.vikinglady.no
Press contact:
For all inquiries regarding the Viking Lady, please contact:
Per Wiggo Richardsen
press@vikinglady.no
Mobile: +47 90 77 78 29
For all inquiries regarding Copenhagen Climate Summit for Mayors, please contact:
Mette Margrethe Elf, Lord Mayor’s Secretary
Mobile: +45 28 80 01 19
About FellowSHIP:
«FellowSHIP» is a joint industry R&D project with the objective to answer a growing call for sustainable energy generation for marine and offshore use. The project was initiated with the goal to develop and demonstrate maritime fuel cell power packs. The FellowSHIP partners are the shipowner Eidesvik, ship designers/power electronics developer Wärtsilä and the classifier Det norske Veritas (DNV). The FellowSHIP project is supported by the Research Council of Norway, Innovation Norway and the Eureka network, incl. the German Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology. More information: www.vikinglady.no
