Wallenius Wilhelmsen’s wind-powered 7,000-vehicle capacity, 220-meter pure car and truck carrier is scheduled to enter service in 2025. CREDIT: WALLENIUS WILHELMSEN
LOGISTICS PERSPECTIVE
CONQUERING CARBON
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Asset Owners Tackle Emissions
roject owners and cargo buyers don’t want their supply chains to release greenhouse gases and accelerate global warming. Asset owners have the job of tackling emissions all along the freight journey, from the wellhead to the wake, wheel or welcome mat, as the case may be. Robin Townley is head of special project logistics at A. P. Moller – Maersk. He believes carbon emissions reduction “is the right thing to do, and if you can do it, you should.” Consumers are signaling its importance, and there can be tax and other regulatory benefits. “It’s a societal imperative and a very smart business decision.” Roger Strevens, vice president of global sustainability with Wallenius Wilhelmsen, lists the two main drivers for the transition towards carbon neutrality as compliance cost reduction and stakeholder demand. He said that these factors should have more clout now as new International Maritime Organization and EU regulatory initiatives are introduced. Eleanor Kirtley manages North 20 BREAKBULK MAGAZINE www.breakbulk.com
BY LORI MUSSER
THE TIME IS NOW
Robin Townley
Roger Strevens
A.P. Moller-Maersk
Wallenius Wilhelmsen
American marine environmental certification programs at Green Marine. She said that the global nature of the shipping industry is its most compelling reason to lower carbon emissions. “The very stakeholders that own the ship, class it, flag it, load it, crew it – they represent the globe. Then add the end consumers to that group. Each has a vested interest in helping to lower emissions, combat storm events, prevent sea level rise and keep temperature rise below the critical 1.5 degrees Celsius.”
Carbon-neutral sea voyages are already here. Zero emissions ports are on the horizon. Liquefied natural gas, compressed natural gas and electric transportation are in play. Even construction at the world’s largest project sites is going greener with solar, wind and portable hydrogen fuel cells. For freight carriers, the problem is no longer if or even when to tackle emissions. The time is now. The problem is how – how to choose and get a fuel, retrofit or build assets to run on greener fuel, benchmark emissions and measure reduction, and bring supply chain partners up to snuff so that successful efforts are compounded. Vessels need energy-dense fuel and lots of it. William Reinsch, of the Washington, DC-based Center for Strategic and International Studies, made the case for hydrogen: “Compared to other lowcarbon storable fuel alternatives (which also include biofuel and ammonia), hydrogen has a large existing market … can be retrofitted into existing ships with relative ease, and has attracted the greatest attention from the industry, ISSUE 4 / 2021
