Seventeen companies are collaborating with shipping company Samskip to save up to 2023 tonnes of CO2 through the year.
As informed, Goodshipping’s initiative aims to provide several vessels owned by shipping company Samskip with biofuel to achieve this carbon reduction.
In December, the Port of Rotterdam Authority and GoodShipping announced the “Switch to Zero” campaign to encourage companies to have their sea freight transported using sustainable fuel.
In particular, the initiative, called “insetting,” reduces carbon dioxide emissions by using sustainable fuel for shipping. This in contrast to offsetting, which involves CO2 being compensated by, for instance, planting trees.
According to the company, this makes it easy for sea freight shipping companies to make a concrete contribution to reducing CO2 emissions. GoodShipping ensures that several Samskip vessels will be provided with biofuels, which will achieve a CO2 reduction of 2023 tonnes. This is comparable to the amount of CO2 released when transporting some 15,000 TEU containers between Rotterdam and Gothenburg.
The participating companies are Dille & Kamille, Swinkels Family Brewers (known for Bavaria and Cornet, among others), Yogi Tea, Beiersdorf, Bugaboo, Otto Group, K2 Forwarding, Yumeko, NINE & Co., De Kleine Keuken, Royal van Whije Verf, Intersteel, OMyBag, Regent Ingredients, Dopper, Johnny Cashew and Anchor International.
Shipping is not yet on schedule to be CO2 neutral by 2050, even though it is technically feasible. It is therefore good that shipping, as well as industry, in Europe will soon pay for CO2 emissions through the ETS. This encourages sustainability, as it makes environment- and climate-friendly alternatives more attractive financially. However, this is only possible if such alternative options are offered.
..said Allard Castelein, Port of Rotterdam Authority CEO.
Dirk Kronemeijer, founder of GoodShipping said: “We’ve seen a huge acceleration in the pace of the energy transition brought about by shippers over the past two years, which is why we want to give more companies the opportunity to have their freight shipped sustainably. The offer made by the Port of Rotterdam Authority, which aims to be the world’s most sustainable port, to support us in this was therefore easy to accept.”
At Bugaboo we are actively reducing, not compensating, our carbon emissions through our Push to Zero program. Lowering emissions from ocean freight is part of our plan. In partnership with GoodShipping, we want to move towards a 100% reduction of our ocean freight emission. Joining the Switch to Zero campaign is another step towards this goal.
…said Adriaan Thierry, CEO Bugaboo.
In concluding, shipping is responsible for approximately 3% of global carbon dioxide emissions but, at the same time, is a complex sector that fell outside the international climate agreements for a long time. The chain is also fragmented because companies often only ship just a few containers on a vessel.
