Container shipping’s CO2 emissions down in 2019

July 24 ------ Carbon dioxide emissions from the world’s leading ocean container carriers continued to fall in 2019, according to a new report from Clean Cargo, a collaborative initiative for sustainable cargo shipping managed by Business for Social Responsibility (BSR). Clean Cargo’s aggregate average Trade Lane CO2 Emissions Factors are compiled from verified operations data of over 3,500 vessels, from 17 of the world’s largest ocean container carriers, representing approximately 85 percent of global containerized shipping. These include A.P. Møller – Mærsk, CMA CGM Group, COSCO Shipping Lines Ltd., Evergreen Line, Hapag-Lloyd, Hyundai M.M., MSC, ONE (Ocean Network Express), and Yang Ming Marine Transport Corp. According to the report, global industry averages for CO2 emissions per container per kilometer decreased by 5.6 percent and 2.5 percent for Dry and Reefer (refrigerated) indexes, respectively.

Improvements on the CO2 Dry index were seen on major tradelanes, such as:

* Asia to-from North Europe with a 3% reduction of Asia to-from North America West Coast and Asia to-from North America East Coast with a 6% reduction

* Asia to-from Middle East / India with a 12% reduction

* Asia to-from Mediterranean / Black Sea with a 12% reduction

The report also showed a decrease in SOx emissions (-10.2% globally), although the group’s methodology and calculations do not yet factor in the increasing use of exhaust gas cleaning systems.

A mapping of Clean Cargo membership divided by vessel size and type shows a clear increase in the fleet size, which results in an increase in the total amount of fuel consumed by the group. There were no major changes in fuel types, with vessels remaining mainly on HFO. There has been a slight increase in MDO and a substantial increase in LFO, LNG, and hybrid fuels, even if they still represent a small proportion of the total fuel consumed. LNG is used mainly on small vessels, while the hybrid fuels use is spread among the larger sizes of vessels. Ultra-large vessels were still running on HFO or conventional fuels. Over the last 10 years, the main trends observed through the Clean Cargo reporting framework were:

* Clean Cargo Fleet capacity grew by 153%, from 8 to 20.4 mil. TEU

* Heavy fuel oil decreased from 97.2% to 86.6% of fuel used.

* Lower emissions correlate with higher transport work, increasing ship size and tradelane length

“Standardized, consolidated, industry-wide emissions data are essential to decarbonization efforts,” said Angie Farrag-Thibault, Collaborations and Transport Director at BSR and Program Director of Clean Cargo. “With over 60 global brands and forwarders working with the industry in Clean Cargo, we are making excellent collective progress. But we know that further action is needed: full value chain collaboration is critical to transform the system, and we encourage more brands to get involved.” Several years ago, Clean Cargo developed a standardized methodology and reporting system that was adopted globally by the industry, with carriers submitting operational data from the entire fleet to BSR on an annual basis for trade lane emission factors aggregation.

Source: offshore-energy.biz