Australian shipbuilder Austal, commits to sustainability with LocAl®
Low Carbon Aluminium
Austal, the well-known Australian shipbuilder has committed to using LocAl® lower-carbon Aluminium supplied by Capral to support their initiatives in sustainable manufacturing and responsible procurement.
Renowned for developing defence and commercial vessel platforms, the Austal product range includes vehicle passenger ferries, patrol boats, high-speed support vessels, surface combatants, and revolutionary, multi-role vessels. Capral has been a long-term supplier to Austal, providing proprietary aluminium extrusions and rolled products to support their diverse manufacturing needs.
With a clear focus on integrating sustainable development priorities into the organisation’s operations, business planning, and investment decision-making, Austal is taking great strides in aligning its business strategies and operations with the interests and needs of its stakeholders, customers and communities.
Early in 2023, Austal committed to switching their locally extruded aluminium to the LocAl® Green offer introduced by Capral in late 2022 where practical to do so. LocAl® Green, with carbon emissions of 8kg CO2e/kg Al*, offers significantly lower carbon emissions than traditional aluminium, delivering Australian manufacturers a cleaner, green option for extruded aluminium.
Shipbuilding produces vessels with a typical expected life span of 20 to 30 years. Austal recognises that understanding the influences and opportunities to reduce GHG emissions over this long period is critical to successfully achieving a sustainable business model. Sales Operations Manager Matthew Klingberg comments, “Austal has made a public commitment to achieve a reduction of embodied emissions, and this includes Scope 1, 2 and 3-upstream.”
“In selecting materials for incorporation into our products, we consider material longevity, durability, and repairability to ensure the vessels we construct are of high quality as well as efficient and long-lasting. Our aim is to manufacture vessels that are highly economical and sustainable over their lifecycle.
“Aluminium suffers from little to no corrosion. Marine- grade aluminium ensures that protective coatings are not required on all hull surfaces, limiting materials used to construct our ships. Correctly designed aluminium structures will operate effectively for up to 30 years without any structural issues or needing a single coat of paint.”
“Furthermore, aluminium is highly economical to recycle. We recognise, however, that producing aluminium is energy intensive when compared with steel,” he concluded.
Aluminium is often touted as the “sustainable metal”, its versatility and recyclability earning it this reputation. However, there are significant variations in the carbon emissions generated by smelters during the production of primary aluminium – one might argue that some aluminium is considerably more sustainable than others.
The main contribution to the carbon emissions of aluminium comes from the electrolysis process used in aluminium smelting. Around 60% of the aluminium sector’s GHG emissions are from the production of electricity consumed during the aluminium smelting process.
A salient fact that may surprise some is that combined, the four Aluminium Smelters producing primary aluminium within Australia consume approximately 10% of the national energy grid.
The carbon emissions in primary aluminium production range from under 4kg CO2e/kg Al to over 20kg CO2e/ kg Al, largely dependent upon the energy sources used. The current global average carbon emission for primary aluminium is approximately 12.4 kg CO2e/kg Al.
Such environmental impact is accounted for in Austal’s upstream Scope 3 GHG emissions, while the benefit of lower-weight aluminium in reducing diesel consumption
Cape Class Patrol Boat. Photo by AUSTAL:
austal.com/image-library/
THE REPORT | DEC 2024 | ISSUE 110 | 87
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