All three parties said that they recognised the urgency required to tackle the global issue of climate change and are continually driving progress in their respective lines of business.
Together, the companies will work towards lowering maritime GHG emissions by fully exploiting existing fuel-saving technologies and exploring new technical solutions.
Their aim is to prove that it can make economic sense for both owners and charterers if they work more closely together to make vessels more fuel efficient, thus demonstrating that sustainable shipping can also be commercially viable.
The collaboration, which is closely aligned with the IMO’s target to cut annual GHG emissions by 50% by 2050, has a long-term objective of providing ‘over-the-shelf’ solutions for maritime industry actors looking to explore new technologies to reduce their emissions.
George Wells, global head of assets and structuring at Cargill Ocean Transportation, said, “We are excited to bring together three of the largest players in their respective maritime market segments to actively make shipping more sustainable. With the right expertise, transparency and collaboration, we can make changes to vessels and contracts that will significantly reduce shipping’s GHG footprint.”
Tommy Thomassen, Maersk Tankers CTO, added; “Maersk Tankers has extensive knowledge and experience in testing a wide range of technologies that can drive fuel efficiencies. This collaboration represents an opportunity to share this knowledge with others and to deploy these technologies in a larger fleet. Through that, we can accelerate the impact on reducing GHG globally.”
Cargill will provide access to its extensive fleet, as well as operational experience; Maersk Tankers will bring the legacy of implementing innovation on product tankers that enhances technical performance; and Mitsui & Co will offer vessel construction and trading expertise to provide the new technologies and solutions to the shipping industry that this collaboration will explore.
Initially, the partnership will focus on testing and trials of existing proven technologies on ships under their control, with work already underway with several owners to invest in and install energy saving devices on board vessels under their charter.
These projects will involve measures to optimise vessel performance by sharing and using shipboard data in conjunction with weather routing, as well as mechanisms to enable the benefits of improved performance to be shared by both owner and charterer.
In parallel, for the long term, new technologies will be explored that could potentially transform maritime emissions.