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New mega-ships help lower carbon footprint of shipping industry, not just raise efficiency

MEGASHIPS with their fuel-efficient designs are helping to lower the carbon footprint of ocean liners, that, and slow-steaming and operating at steady engine speeds, according to a new report by the Clean Cargo Working Group (CCWG)

CCWG is an organisation whose members are shippers and carriers, including most of the top 20 container shipping lines, and represent 80 per cent of global capacity.

Shippers and freight forwarders include BMW, Belk, Electrolux, Heineken, Hewlett-Packard, Ikea, Kohl's, Monsanto, Nike and Ralph Lauren.

Importers and exporters have been coming under pressure from senior management in recent years to cut carbon dioxide emissions in their supply chains.

It is also becoming increasingly important to shipping lines, which are marketing the efficiencies of their new mega-ships to attract greater business from retailers and other large shippers with a mandate to reduce CO2 emissions.

The report shows that in 2014 average CO2 emissions in the global container shipping trades declined 8.4 per cent from the year before, with the greatest improvements recorded on routes where the largest and newest box ships operate.

While starting with the ocean segment of the supply chain, Clean Cargo has also developed an intermodal carbon calculator that measures emissions in the marine terminal, rail, trucking and warehouse sectors, reported Newark's Journal of Commerce.

Shippers through the working group calculate the environmental impacts of transporting their goods in international commerce. Cargo interests use this information to benchmark the performance of their ocean carriers against others in the global container trades.

Last year the global fleet's average of CO2 emissions per TEU carried per kilometre travelled was 53.4 grammes. The lowest average CO2 emissions were on the Asia-North Europe trade lane, at 37.9 grammes, where most mega-ships of up to 20,000 TEU are deployed.

The highest emissions were recorded in the intra-Europe trades at 84. The trade lanes to Africa, Oceania and Latin America also had relatively high carbon emissions. In the US trades, the lowest average CO2 emissions were in the Asia-US west coast trade lane, at 50.9, with vessels of 8,000 to 14,000 TEU dominating the trade.

The Asia-US east coast trade had average CO2 emissions of 56. In the transatlantic North Europe to east and Gulf Coast trades, the average was 70.3 grammes of CO2 per TEU per kilometre.