by Alison Newell, Technical Advisor to MCST and Director Sustainable Sea Transport
This article was written a year ago before appearing in this blog.
Turning the tide: what do we do about
small boats and the crucial role they play in Fiji’s domestic maritime fleet?
There has been a lot of discussion in
recent weeks about the allocation of R&D funding to support the
decarbonisation of large ships as part of the covid-19 economic stimulus
responses around the world. Countries such as Ireland, Norway, Denmark, Germany
and others have announced multi-million dollar financing packages for
zero-emissions or low-carbon vessel design and trials (see for example the UK
Government’s recent announcement of £400m for a Belfast-based project to develop zero emission,
high-speed ferries https://www.businessgreen.com/news/4017015/belfast-zero-emission-ferry-project-gbp400m-uk-government-funding-winners).
There has also been discussion on how
Fiji could position itself as the regional maritime transport “hub” for new
maritime technologies and service the larger vessels from neighbours (Fiji Ship
and Heavy Industries Ltd recently mentioned discussions that have been held
with Marshall Islands Government which has vessels that aren’t operating at the
moment as they can’t be repaired in-country, for example).
However, there has not been a lot of
discussion about what actions Fiji can take to address the emissions from the
smaller boats that make up the vast majority of the domestic fleet, and are
likely to make up the vast majority of emissions from the sector (outboard
motors).
As the economic impacts of covid-19
bite, households and businesses are facing financial hardship. It’s obvious that this situation is going to
last for some time, and well into 2021.
In recent weeks I’ve heard of a steep decline in the use of village boats
as money for premix has been in short supply.
The prices of premix have fluctuated
wildly in recent months, reflecting the global oil prices which crashed to
negative earlier in the year, but have risen again since. The Fijian
Competition and Consumer Commission last week announced an increase of 18
cents/litre up to $1.47/litre for premix (it was over $2/litre in
February). The point here is that Fiji is extremely vulnerable to price shocks
because of the fuel being imported and affected by global crude oil
prices. And this impacts at the
household and village level.
This is nothing new, and we know from
past global oil crises that this impacts on the village. I was in Kadavu in 2008 when premix price
increases led to reduced frequency in healthcare checks for pregnant women, and
kids being taken from school as the cost of transporting the daily rations by
boat was too much for villagers to pay. So what can be done to ensure that local connectivity
is not reduced in these hard times, and to make sure that our island and
coastal communities are still able to move people and goods by small boat?
We need to look at
the options available which require less or no fossil fuels. Sailing canoes are an obvious solution and
the Uto ni Yalo Trust has been instrumental in efforts to revitalise the use of
small sailing canoes for fishing communities.
The wind is still free, and whilst perhaps “unreliable” in some
situations, when the breeze is good, then provides an invaluable resource that
we’re not taking full advantage of. Recent
research in Marshall Islands showed that a sailing canoe used for fishing could
save over US$3,800/yr of fuel when compared to an outboard-powered boat.
Most of the
outboards used in Fiji today are 2-strokes.
Whilst comparatively cheap and easy to maintain, they are fuel hungry
and the least efficient type of small motor.
4-stroke outboards are considerably more efficient and fuel savings over
time can make up for the higher purchase cost, but we need more trained
mechanics who can access spare parts and fix these more complicated
motors.
Another solution available
today is to switch to electric outboards which are commercially available
around the world. But we need significant investment in capacity building so
that these motors can be maintained and repaired in Fiji. We need fiscal
policies that can reduce the comparative costs of purchase (for example a new 30HP
electric outboard motor and rechargeable batteries and charger can be purchased
for US$ 23,000, compared to a 2-stroke at US$3,300). Some of this can be achieved by removing the
current 32% fiscal duty on Lithium ion batteries, but it will also require
access to low interest loans for people to access to make that upfront
investment, and in time putting in place fiscal policy that recognises the
pollution caused by 2-strokes (ECAL policy is in place for cars but not for
boats) e.g. imposition of import and fiscal duties for 2-strokes.
In the meantime,
it’s time to teach our kids to build and sail small boats, then at least they
will have the skills and options available to them in the future which will
mean they can still move around by sea without the need for outboards.
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