‘Going green’ moves to top of shipping line agendas

In the international trade press a main headline of the moment is the impact of environmental concerns on buying and transport patterns in the shipping industry. This, for the SA market, raises questions like: To what extent will carbon miles affect buying choices in the future and how will it affect export prospects? But it’s not likely to have any adverse effect on the local sea trade, although all the major reputable lines on the SA scene are counting the adjustment of services and company policy to match environmental demands as a mainstay in their future planning, FTW was told. The Japanese head office of Mitsui OSK Lines (MOL), for example, said that “going green” was a major focus point for the line, and that designing suitable shipboard equipment and machinery and adjusting services to suit these demands were a prime part of their policy. And both Safmarine and Maersk Line are also making high-level scrutiny of both ships and their service deployment, a primary item on their policy agenda. Carl Lorenz, Maersk GM for Kwa Zulu Natal (KZN), confirmed to FTW that a senior executive environmental committee was busy at parent company AP Moller’s head office in Copenhagen, Denmark – with down-the-line teams contributing their input to the issues. “Of the group’s four pillars of priority,” he said, “the environment is one of the top global concerns of the moment. “In the AP Moller- Maersk group we believe in sustainability. In line with our values we are committed to developing environmentally friendly solutions to the challenge on environment and climate change. Not only does this offer a competitive edge to our business, equally important are the benefits it brings to the environment and climate.” Andrew Thomas, CEO of Ocean Africa Container Lines (OACL) and chairman of the SA Association of Ship Operators and Agents (Saasoa) agreed, suggesting that all the lines in SA were putting “going green” at the top of their agendas. “There is no doubt,” he said, “that in the more developed countries (of which we are one), the buying decisions must take cognisance of environmental concerns – like carbon footprints and the swing to organic products. “My shareholders are pushing the need for environmental policy, and we are very aware of these concerns.” Not that he saw the environmental issue being anything but an advantageous argument for the maritime mode of transport – particularly on the coastal seaways. “On the coastal side,” Thomas said, “a ship’s carbon footprint (one of the main environmental issues) is much better than transporting the same load by road – and the footprint that all these extra trucks would make. “So part of our appeal is that we keep cargo off the roads, while environmental strategies are very much part of senior executives’ thinking.”