Danish Maersk, the world’s largest container shipping company, revealed plans to become carbon neutral by 2050. Under this goal, the company eyes carbon neutral vessels commercially viable by 2030, acceleration in new innovations and adaption of new technology.
In the company’s announcement, Maersk points out the importance of climate as one of the most important issues in the world.
Furthermore, the 80% of global trade is performed through shipping and it is vital to finding solutions, Maersk urges. By now, Maersk´s relative CO2 emissions have been reduced by 46% (baseline 2007), approx. 9% more than the industry average, as it is mentioned in the company’s report.
The world trade and thereby shipping volumes is expected to continue to grow. Therefore, efficiency improvements on the current fossil-based technology can only keep shipping emissions at current levels but not reduce them significantly or eliminate them.
The only possible way to achieve the so-much-needed decarbonisation in our industry is by fully transforming to new carbon neutral fuels and supply chains.
Søren Toft, Chief Operating Officer at A.P. Moller – Maersk stated.
The Danish group is putting its efforts towards solving problems specific to maritime transport, as it calls for different solutions than automotive, rail and aviation. The yet to come electric truck is expected to be able to carry max 2 TEU and is projected to run 800km per charging. In comparison, a container vessel carrying thousands of TEU sailing from Panama to Rotterdam makes around 8,800 km. With short battery durability and no charging points along the route, innovative developments are imperative.
Søren Toft added that the next 5-10 years are going to be crucial and they will invest significant resources for innovation and fleet technology to improve the technical and financial viability of decarbonised solutions. Over the last four years, the company has invested around USD 1bn and engaged 50+ engineers each year in developing and deploying energy efficient solutions. The Chief operating officer, also, noted that it is important other companies move towards this direction, too.
