According to a recent statement, MSC Mediterranean Shipping Company, highlights that is strongly committed to further reducing CO2 emissions; support longer term goals to fully decarbonize shipping and to further ensure its sustainability, in line with EU legislation, and that it is vital “that the raw data reported in the system are analyzed accurately and take operational realities fully into account, to give a realistic picture of the related emissions.”
Namely, a recently launched report by Transport&Environment (T&E) informed that MSC is amongst the top 10 carbon emitters; In essence, based on the data submitted by shipping companies through the MRV regulation, MS’s fleet, which moves consumer goods, ranging from electronics and fresh fruit to clothes and toys, was responsible for about 11 million tonnes (Mt) of CO2 emissions in 2018.
MSC now outlines that the report offers an incomplete analysis of these data and therefore does not give an accurate picture of the emissions from the shipping sector. In particular, it is noted that
the T&E analysis fails to take a number of operational aspects of MSC’s services fully into account, and thus does not offer a complete assessment of our role and impact in terms of emissions.
Remarkably, CO2 emissions should be compared on an equal basis. The analysis by T&E focuses on emissions in the EU and, if it is to be fully comparable across shipping lines and industries, should only consider emissions which occurred within the EU.
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According to an MSC analysis of its own operational records, only 40-45% of the 11 million tons of emissions reported in the MRV were in the EU.
MSC advises that the following points can be considered in order to accurately assess its role in the decarbonization of shipping:
- Shipowners are mandated to report consumption and CO2 emission data for voyages starting and terminating in EU ports, including voyages between EU ports; emissions are calculated based on the last port of call before entering EU or the first port of call after leaving EU.
- MSC performs its own feedering services, which means these vessels are also included in its total carbon footprint- smaller feeder vessels transfer containers between larger ships and smaller ports.
- MSC is continuously improving energy efficiency and thus mitigating greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The Energy Efficiency Operational Indicator (EEOI) gives a reliable indication of a ship’s environmental performance and the ratio of CO2 emissions per ton of cargo MSC moves is among the lowest in the industry.
Namely, MSC remains fully supportive of decarbonizing the shipping industry, while at the same time recognizing that some major breakthroughs, especially in fuel and propulsion technologies, are needed to shift the industry towards a zero-carbon future.
On their part, MSC says that it operates a modern, green fleet and is investing heavily in low-carbon technologies and extensive new-build and retrofit programs to boost performance and minimize environmental impact, while at the same time increasing TEU capacity to meet the growing demand.
In fact, it is added that the latest newbuilding additions to the fleet, led by MSC Gülsün, the largest container ship in the world, has introduced a new class of sustainable container shipping, with the lowest carbon footprint by design, at 7.49 grams of CO2 emissions to move 1 ton of cargo 1 nautical mile.
