Brittany Ferries reaffirms its commitment to transparency and accountability in terms of greenhouse gas emissions from maritime transport. However, the company stresses the importance of basing regulatory reporting of these emissions on actual and current emissions measurements, rather than potentially outdated default estimates.

The position of the Shipping Company follows the publication of an independent study carried out by ESTACA (www.estaca.fr) at the request of ADEME for which the atmospheric emissions of the LNG vessel SALAMANCA were studied.

The results show indisputably that methane emissions are 50% lower than the default values established in the current regulatory frameworks of the European ETS (Emissions Trading System) and the IMO (International Maritime Organisation).

The study, led by Benoît Sagot, a lecturer and researcher at ESTACA (an engineering school specialising in sustainable mobility), and published on the ADEME website, recently gave rise to an article in the Journal of Marine Science and Engineering. It is based on direct measurements carried out on the Rosslare-Bilbao and Rosslare-Cherbourg lines. It concludes that the average annual rate of methane slip is 1.57%, well below the regulatory default values (up to 3.5%).

"We fully support the principle of environmental responsibility. But the rules must reflect reality. The science we have today shows that the actual emissions from our LNG ships are significantly lower than expected. This should logically be taken into account in our regulatory filings," says Christophe Mathieu, Managing Director of Brittany Ferries.

"We consider these results to be a solid basis for providing methodological tools adapted to European and international regulators," continues Christophe Mathieu. "The objective is not to avoid our share of responsibility, but to ensure that the real efforts made by shipowners in favour of the ecological transition are recognised at their true value."

Incentive rather than dissuasive policies

Brittany Ferries invites the competent authorities to take these findings into account in future revisions of regulations related to maritime emissions.

The article published in the Journal of Marine Science and Engineering is available here:
https://www.mdpi.com/2077-1312/13/7/1379

The company remains open to any initiative aimed at deepening or reproducing these results in a spirit of transparency and collective progress, while hoping that this new scientific basis can contribute to policies that encourage rather than discourage low-carbon maritime technologies.

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