| dc.description.abstract | Climate change has grown into an increasingly important concern for the shipping industry,
but the contractual infrastructure of bulk shipping has not fully evolved to reflect this. As a
result, this thesis examines the challenges and potential of improving energy efficiency in
shipping through contractual means. In particular, we focus on how charterparties could be
adapted to both encourage and enable more efficient ship operations, while also recognising
that stakeholders such as shipowners, charterers and cargo owners often have conflicting
interests. Furthermore, we also examine the key challenges in revising chartering contracts
both generally and specific to different efficiency-oriented contractual solutions. Properly
aligning charterparties and all stakeholders’ interests with operational efficiency is important
since chartering contracts serve as the underlying framework of international shipping.
We combine a literature-based analysis with interviews of key stakeholders in the shipping
value chain to not only synthesise previous research results, but also explore how industry
experts currently perceive the promise and limits of efficiency-oriented contractual changes.
Firstly, we expand the literature by examining the common barriers to revising chartering
contracts. Secondly, we review the current status of just-in-time arrivals, particularly when
requiring contractual changes, and analyse how policy interventions such as carbon pricing
and the upcoming CII regime could also contribute to tackling operational inefficiencies
through contractual means. Finally, we evaluate more recent efficiency-linked contractual
innovations and assess the challenges they are facing or might face in the future.
Our findings suggest that policy interventions are necessary to incentivise more efficient ship
operations, but their effectiveness depends heavily on stakeholders’ willingness to adapt
contractual structures and fixture behaviour accordingly. As the status quo is maintained by
stakeholders’ vested interests, external stimuli are generally required to motivate widespread
contractual changes. Furthermore, although charterers and cargo owners play a crucial role
for revising charterparties, they have varying responsiveness to price signals and interest in
proactively reducing their shipping emissions, which creates some difficulties for improving
energy efficiency through contractual means. | en_US |
