Greek tanker and bulker owner Neda Maritime Agency has become the world’s first ship owner to be awarded carbon credits through AkzoNobel’s Marine Coatings business. The carbon credits were accrued by the tanker vessel Argenta, which was converted from a biocidal antifouling system to a premium, biocide-free advanced hull coating from AkzoNobel’s Intersleek range that reduces fuel consumption and CO2 emissions on average by 9%.
A total of 13,375 carbon credits, potentially worth around $60,000, have been presented to Neda Maritime via the award-winning programme. Launched in 2014, the scheme rewards ship owners for using sustainable hull coatings that improve operational efficiencies and reduce emissions.
Costas Mitropoulos, Technical Director at Neda Maritime, said:
“We are proud to be the world’s first ship owner to receive carbon credits from AkzoNobel’s carbon credits initiative. As the shipping industry faces more pressure to improve its sustainability, we continue our commitment to further increase our environmental performance standards. To that respect we see a great potential in AkzoNobel’s pioneering carbon credits initiative as part of our strategy to deliver sustainable and successful business.”
Added Oscar Wezenbeek, Managing Director of AkzoNobel’s Marine Coating’s business:
“This is a landmark moment for AkzoNobel, Neda Maritime and the wider shipping industry. It demonstrates how our carbon credits initiative can incentivise investment in more sustainable practices, accelerating carbon reduction within the shipping industry and enabling owners to gain from operational, environmental and bottom-line benefits from clean technologies.”
Neda Maritime will use its carbon credits to voluntarily offset other sources of CO2 emissions within its business, as part of its commitment to reducing its impact on the environment. Each carbon credit accrued represents the avoidance of one tonne of CO2 being emitted to the atmosphere, meaning that the company has offset a total of 13,735 tonnes of CO2 from its business.
Source: AkzoNobel
