The Energy Efficiency Gap in Turkish Maritime Transportation

The Turkish Merchant Shipping Industry has recently witnessed an increasing awareness of the importance to minimize environmental pollution and fuel oil consumption. Together with certain non-governmental organizations and media concerns about environmental protection, the International Maritime Organization (IMO) has been strict on controlling undesirable effects on the environment and, consequently, forcing shipping companies to minimize their emissions. Besides, today’s highly advanced technology companies over the world have developed various innovative systems that can be utilized to minimize carbon emission, thus giving assurance to relevant investors that their investments are most likely to turn out well with a considerable financial gain in the short or long term. Despite all such favorable developments, in a general look, shipping companies seem reluctant in making use of technologies providing efficiency in energy consumption. This reluctance has eventually brought about the term “Energy Efficiency Gap”. This research conducts a questionnaire, created by Acciaro et al. [1], among the shipping companies in Turkey. 20 respondent companies, who represent 26 percent of the Turkish owned merchant marine fleet of over 1000 gross tonnage in terms of deadweight cargo capacity, participated in the research. The Pearson correlation analysis was used, and interpretations were made according to the obtained statistical values. The aim of the research was to identify reasons and points restraining the use of new technologies regarding energy efficiency, as well as to develop proposals for the innovators in this field about how to overcome this handicap concerning technical and managerial aspects of gaining energy efficiency.