Maersk Q&A
cargo intake. Engine power has also been reduced and combined with an advanced waste-heat recovery system. These improvements combined with their size – 18,000teu – make the Triple-E vessels approximately 50% more energy efficient than average vessels trading between Asia and North Europe – in other words, they use 50% less fuel and emit 50% less CO2.
Maersk’s “green” strategy
Jacob Sterling, head of climate and environment at Maersk Line, outlines achievements so far and how they may help to raise the company’s market share.
Q: For Maersk Line, rising fuel bills are obviously a major concern. What has been achieved so far in terms of fuel and emissions savings per unit of cargo, and what are your targets?
A: We want to be the shipping line with the best environmental performance and we have set ourselves a voluntary target to reduce our CO2 emissions by 25% per container moved between 2007 and 2020. To date, we have reduced our CO2 emissions on this basis by 14.5%.
Q: What reaction do you receive from shippers, and is your proactive approach to environmental issues becoming more important in maintaining/ gaining market share?
A: We are experiencing an increasing interest from shippers in our environmental performance. They want to know their CO2 footprint and are keen to know how we can help them reduce it. We find this very encouraging, and every month we provide a CO2 scorecard to our key clients where we show their CO2 footprint from shipping with Maersk Line – and compare it to what it would have been if they had chosen a shipping line with an industry-average CO2 performance. In most cases, our customers are saving CO2 simply
by choosing Maersk Line over a competitor.
Q: Some of the world's leading shippers have implemented robust sustainability strategies of their own. Transport features in these already, but do you expect second- tier cargo interests to adopt similar strategies in the future? Will shippers pay more for an environmentally favourable operation?
A: It is predominantly the large shippers who have a strong interest in our environmental performance – especially the big retailers and the big brands. The interest is, however, not confined to them. A total of 42% of our customers have indicated that they use ‘sustainability’ as a sourcing criterion when selecting a supplier. We do not expect to get a separate premium due to superior environmental performance, but we would hope that shippers would grant us bigger volumes.
Q: The Triple E vessels will take fuel efficiency to a new level, provided they achieve good load factors. How much energy and emissions will they save?
A: The Triple-E vessels are designed for very high energy efficiency. The hull shape is optimised for slow- steaming and is therefore bulkier than previous designs, which allows for greater
Q: Are you considering LNG as a fuel for short-sea/feeder container services?
A: We don’t see LNG as a potential fuel in the short term. Significant infrastructure developments have to take place before LNG is a viable option, and it is not a technology that can be retrofitted to existing ships.
Q: In the short- to medium-term, there is no alternative to hydrocarbon fuels for container vessels. However in the future, do you consider likely the introduction of non-carbon-based fuels such as hydrogen fuel cells, or nuclear power?
A: There will be clear limits to the CO2 reduction from shipping as long as we use oil-based fuels, so we need to look at potential future alternatives. Nuclear has some significant challenges for merchant ships in terms of security but cannot be ruled out; similarly, LNG may also be an option. At this point, hydrogen fuel cells is not a big focus area but again, nothing should be ruled out for the longer term at this point.
In recent years, Maersk Line has been exploring the potential for biofuels and also tested a rapeseed- based biofuel on one of our vessels. Today, there are no biofuels available that can be scaled up for commercial use in shipping. The available options are too expensive, too scarce or not sustainable enough. We think that sustainable biofuels have a real potential to reduce CO2 and SOx emissions from shipping significantly, and we are therefore partnering with academia and other companies to see if biofuels tailor-made for shipping can be developed.
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