The Hamburg-based shipping company Hapag-Lloyd is seeing growing interest from its cargo customers in the use of alternative, low-emission fuels.
Under the name “Ship Green”, the container liner shipping company Hapag-Lloyd has been offering transports using biofuels since this year. So far, 200,000 TEU have already been booked via this product, reports CEO Rolf Habben Jansen in a press briefing.
This includes major cargo customers such as Ikea, it is said. The Hamburg-based shipping company also won the first tender from the buyer alliance ZEMBA for 600,000 TEU to be transported on biofuel in transatlantic traffic.
“We are very satisfied with the response,” says Habben Jansen. For the coming year, he expects the volume booked via “Ship Green” to double, with a possible further doubling to 800,000 TEU in the following year.
“Ship Green” is intended to help achieve the shipping company’s ambitious environmental targets. By 2030, emissions are to be reduced by a third from their current level. By 2045, the No. 5 in global container liner shipping is aiming for “net zero”.
Hapag-Lloyd has high expectations for “Gemini”
The “Gemini Cooperation”, the network alliance with Maersk launched in February, also aims to further reduce emissions. Compared to the services previously operated with other partners, the ships deployed will be larger and more efficient in operation, the CEO has now announced.
Hapag-Lloyd recently ordered 24 newbuildings worth US$4 billion, half in the 9,000 TEU and half in the 17,000 TEU size class.
With “Gemini”, the two shipping companies are relying on a hub-and-spoke concept in which around 30 intercontinental services call at just over a dozen major ports, while almost as many regional feeder services distribute the cargo in the respective regions. The two partners will deploy around 340 ships with a total capacity of 3.7 million TEU.
“We will be on the move more punctually and efficiently,” they say. In view of the foreseeable lack of genuine “green” energy sources such as methanol or ammonia, LNG is currently the fuel of choice. “Many of our newbuilds can also be converted to e-fuels at a later date,” says Habben Jansen.
However, “slow steaming”, i.e. reducing cruising speed, is seen as the most effective means of reducing emissions for the time being. According to calculations, slowing ships down by 3 knots could save around 20% of current emissions.
