30 Jul 13 - 14:20
Maersk has already reached its CO2 reduction target of 25% eight year - now heads for 40% reduction
Major shipowner Maersk has put its significant emissions reduction down to operational efficiency, design and behavioural change. Earlier this year the Danish group announced it had reached its CO2 reduction target of 25% eight years in advance of its 2020 deadline and is therefore increasing the target to 40%.
Signe Bruun Jensen, Maersk Line's global advisor for the environment and corporate social responsibility, explained: 'We give our captains scorecards for each of their vessels to benchmark their fuel consumption against the rest of the fleet, so we incentivise performance by creating a competitive environment.'
Maersk has also undertaken 52 retrofit projects on its chartered fleet , investing in equipment such as waste heat recovery systems and new propeller design. 'The pace of technology and innovation is such that we are even looking at projects to retrofit our E-class vessels, which are only five years old,' added Jensen.
On the question of whether delivering the company's 18 000TEU Triple-E newbuildings to an oversaturated market was sustainable, Jensen said that as the vessels were being deployed into the new P3 network, an operational alliance established in cooperation with MSC and CMA CGM, the utilisation levels on the Asia - Europe, Trans-Pacific and Trans-Atlantic trades would be higher and more efficient.
Maersk is a member of both the Sustainable Shipping Initiative and the Clean Cargo Working Group in order to facilitate industry-wide change.
Source: IMAREST
