Green initiatives for port : Maritime India Vision-2030 : Daily Current Affairs

Relevance: GS-3: Indian Economy, mobilization of resources, changes in industrial policy.

Relevance: GS-2: Government policies and interventions for development in various sectors.

Key phrases: Shipping service, green port, Maritime India Vision-2030, Electricity-powered, Project Green Ports.

Why in News?

  • Cochin Port Trust has unveiled a slew of green initiatives under the Maritime India Vision 2030, aimed at shifting its operations completely to solar power by 2030.

Background:

  • According to the Ministry of Shipping, around 95% of India's trading by volume and 70% by value is done through maritime transport.
  • India has 12 major and 205 notified minor and intermediate ports. Under the National Perspective Plan for Sagarmala, six new mega ports will be developed in the country.
  • India’s key ports had a capacity of 1,534.91 million tonnes per annum (MTPA) in FY20. In FY21, all key ports in India handled 672.60 million tonnes (MT) of cargo traffic

What is Green Sustainable Port?

  • A Green Sustainable Port, also known as an ecological port, is a sustainable development port, which not only meets the environmental requirements, but also raises their social, economic interests. The core question of an ecological port is to find a balance point between environmental, social impacts and economic interests. The economic and social development of ports should not exceed the carrying capacity of the corresponding natural system.
  • A Green Sustainable Port aims at utilizing its resources efficiently, reducing the negative impact on regional environment, raising the environment management level and improving the quality of the natural surroundings of the port area.

Environmental effect of Port Activity in India:

GHGs and Air pollution: All ships activities are responsible of air pollutants emissions and particularly: ships movement in port, ships activities in hotelling phase (lighting, heating, refrigeration, ventilation, etc.), tanker loading and unloading. Emissions from ships at berth is estimated to be approximately 10 times greater than those from the ports' own operations.

Pollution of water: In port and in its neighbourhood there are different sources of water pollution from ships:

  • Oil of bilge and motor fuel leakage from ships and gasoline and diesel oil leakage from pleasure crafts;
  • Accidental leakage of oil and chemical substances in loading and unloading of products;
  • Pollution from slop (residual of chemical products contained in the tanks and of the product used in the washing operations) either in the case in which it is treated and in the case in which it is unauthorized discharged (tanks washing close to the coast);
  • Leaching of antifouling paints (particularly containing organotin tributyltin) used to coat the bottoms of ships to prevent sealife such as algae and mollusks attaching themselves to the hull - thereby slowing down the ship and increasing fuel consumption;

Wastes production: During ships operation a number of waste products are generated on board the ship. Depending on trade and area the ship is operating in, the ship must collect the waste to be discharged ashore at ships call.

Maritime India Vision-2030

The Maritime India Vision-2030, a 10-year blueprint with the aim of overhauling the Indian maritime sector, envisages Rs 3 lakh crore investment in port projects that in turn promises to generate employment for 20 lakh persons.

The government plans to increase the transhipment volumes of Indian cargo at Indian ports from 25 per cent in 2020 to more than 75 per cent by 2030.

To enhance Ease of Doing Business are planned under it which include implementing Enterprise Business System (EBS) to simplify and digitize processes across Major Ports by 2021, developing National Marine Logistics Portal to implement 100 per cent paperless processes including online payment and implementing unified ship e-registration portal.

It plans development of green sustainable ports with an aim to increase the share of renewable energy to over 60 per cent by 2030 from current levels of less than 10 per cent besides promoting waste to wealth through sustainable dredging and domestic ship recycling and aims at reaching the target of Zero Accident Ports by 2022.

The policy focuses on 'Make in India, Make for the world' and thereby becoming a leading ship building country by 2030 through 15 times increase in the gross tonnage of ships built in India.

It envisages setting up a maritime development fund to provide low cost, long term funding to maritime sector stakeholders besides enhancing cruise infrastructure by developing dedicated cruise terminals at 12 selected ports.

The policy plans incentivising global cruise liners to make India their home port and emphasises on strengthening the maritime institutions to enhance India's training and development capabilities at par with global standards. This would help in increasing India's share of seafarers from 12 per cent at present to over 20 per cent.

It will also focus on the development of eastern waterways connectivity transport grid for enhancing regional connectivity and reducing cost of transportation from Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan and Myanmar, as per the document.

What should be done for Greening of Port?

Utilization of Shore-power: It is considered an important way to cut emissions and save costs for shipping companies. It is also a quicker and cheaper short-term solution for allowing shipping companies to meet emissions targets – particularly those related to emission control areas.

Emissions from ships at berth is estimated to be approximately 10 times greater than those from the ports' own operations. “So, there is a greater potential to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from ships in ports than from port activities on the land-side.

Electricity-powered: The growth of electricity-powered operations in ports can be a key driver in bringing down emissions. Many ports are considering investment in shore power, which allows docking vessels to ‘plug-in’ to power units berthed within the port complex – reducing the need to draw power from generators, reducing fuel consumption. Ex. Electric Catamaran Water Taxi deployment is being considered at Varanasi and Guwahati in first phase.

Low and zero-emission fuels: Renewable fuels for vessels; cargo-handling equipment; or the storage, generation, and transportation as a business model are all areas where low and zero-emission fuels can make an impact in ports. Green hydrogen is zero-emission, generated through renewable electrolysis. Blue hydrogen is generated through fossil fuels, however carbon emissions are captured and stored safely. Hydrogen is in development in ports in cargo-handling equipment and, in the future, potentially hydrogen-powered vessels. Ex. use of Hybrid Electric Roll on -Roll off (Ro-Ro) vessels having dual fuel system (LNG+ battery) is being considered at Guwahati for river crossings.

Intermodal: Many in industry have highlighted investment in intermodal freight solutions as opposed to trucking to reduce port carbon consumption. Intermodal trade will become more important for container ports as e-commerce forces importers and exporters to bring their supply chains closer to destination markets.

Way Forward:

In order to achieve these objectives, regular training will be provided to the staff in order to generate awareness and inculcate a positive attitude towards keeping the environment clean and green. All the Major Ports have already initiated action on the above mentioned activities and are making good progress.

The pace at which the Green initiatives are undertaken by the 12 major ports will surely bring a green revolution in the sector making the ports cleaner and greener, which is also a key component of ‘Blue Economy’, creating environmental benefits and balancing the investments and cash flow.

Project Green Ports,2016

  • The Ministry of Shipping of Government of India has started Project Green Ports which will help in making the Major Ports across India cleaner and greener and promote environmentally sustainable economic growth. Project Green Ports has two verticals - one is Green Ports Initiatives related to environmental issues and second is Swachh Bharat Abhiyaan (Clean India Initiative).
  • The Green Port Initiatives include twelve initiatives which will be implemented under strict time bound fashion in order to achieve the targets. Some of these initiatives are acquiring equipment’s required for monitoring environmental pollution, acquiring dust suppression system, setting up of sewage/waste water treatment plants/ garbage disposal plant, setting up projects for energy generation from renewable energy sources, completion of shortfalls of Oil Spill Response (OSR) facilities, prohibition of disposal of almost all kind of garbage at sea, improving the quality of harbour wastes etc.

Source: The Hindu BL

Mains Question:

Q. Discuss the scope of Maritime India Vision-2030 to propelling India to the fore­front of the global maritime sector in the next decade. Critically analyse.