The Crash Course: MRV, Carbon Trading & Ship Energy Efficiency took place at the Auditorium VTS, placed in the Portuguese Nautical School in Paço de Arcos, Portugal, on 1st and 2nd March.

 

The intensive course of two days was lectured by Eng. Pedro Alua, Chemical Engineer at TecnoVeritas with a deep knowledge in the recent legislation for CO2 emissions on the shipping industry, the MRV. And Dr. Jorge Antunes, CEO of TecnoVeritas and Ph.D. on Marine Engineering at the University of Newcastle-Upon-Tyne, with a vast knowledge on ship energy efficiency.

 

With so much information to lecture in just two days, the crash course was divided into five modules. On the 1st March, the course was introduced by Dr. Luís Filipe Baptista, Director of the Portuguese Nautical School, followed by a short introduction of TecnoVeritas by Dr. Jorge Antunes for the participants who were not familiar with the company.

 

The first module – Climate Change and the Shipping – was lectured by Eng. Pedro Alua, giving the context for the MRV implementation, and focusing on the impact of the shipping in the climate change.

 

The second module – Mitigation Actions – lectured by Dr Jorge Antunes on which the central point was the prevention and ways to respond to the recently implemented regulation, and how ship owners can be prepared for this new era of ship emissions reduction.  Eng. Pedro Alua finished the first day giving a deep explanation about MRV, how does it work, what are the main obligations for ship owners and explaining the role of the verifiers.

 

The second day of the Crash Course was lectured by Dr Jorge Antunes giving a special attention to module four – Onboard operations – enhancing the technical aspects in order to better comply with MRV and Ship Regulations that are coming closer.

 

The attendees also had the opportunity to experience a different gastronomy tasting with Docapesca that brought and prepared a Portuguese Fish Tasting, in which the mackerel and chub mackerel where the selected Portuguese fish. These kind of fish are very common, though they are not that much valued by the common consumer due to the not-so-easy necessary preparation and Docapesca wants to revalue these species by bringing it to the public with different recipes, combinations, and presentations.

The introduction was made by the Director of the Portuguese Nautical School, followed by Dr. Jorge Antunes

 

Image 1 – The introduction was made by the Director of the Portuguese Nautical School, followed by Dr Jorge Antunes.

 

Docapesca brought to attendees a Portuguese Fish Tasting

 

Image 2 – Docapesca brought to attendees a Portuguese Fish Tasting.

 

This course brought together different attendees from diverse areas of shipping and some curious attendees from the general industry to better understand the impact of these environmental regulations on industries and, above all, to society.

 

It is known that CO2 emissions are impacting all kinds of life in our planet, including ours, whether it is through the destruction of habitats or the impact on human health, and the shipping sector has still many opportunities for improvement.

 

Dr. Jorge Antunes was the big booster of the course, defending that this kind of service is not a right, but rather our duty to inform people about the regulations and, most of all, the impact of the environmental pollution caused by shipping, representing one of the main pollutants, alongside with the road sector.