Seventeen companies will together save 2,023 metric tons of CO2 this year by providing several vessels owned by shipping company Samskip with marine biofuel.

Companies that import or export their freight by vessel generally have little influence on the container-shipping company’s fuel choice.

GoodShipping aims to change this with the insetting concept.

In December, the Port of Rotterdam Authority and GoodShipping announced the Switch to Zero campaign to encourage companies to have their sea freight transported using sustainable fuel.

Insetting reduces carbon-dioxide emissions by using sustainable fuel for shipping.

This is in contrast to offsetting, which involves CO2 being compensated by, for instance, planting trees.

Shippers often transport small numbers of containers on different vessels and can use insetting to reduce a certain amount of CO2 via GoodShipping, which allows for the CO2-neutral transport of cargo.

GoodShipping ensures that this CO2 reduction is achieved by providing a vessel with sustainable marine biofuel.

This does not need to be the same vessel on which the containers are transported.

This makes it easy for sea-freight shipping companies to make a concrete contribution to reducing CO2 emissions.

GoodShipping ensures that several Samskip vessels will be provided with biofuels, which will achieve a CO2 reduction of 2,023 tons.

This is comparable to the amount of CO2 released when transporting some 15,000 twenty-foot equivalent unit (TEU) containers between Rotterdam, the Netherlands, and Gothenburg, Sweden.

The participating companies are Dille & Kamille, Swinkels Family Brewers (known for Bavaria and Cornet, among others), Yogi Tea, Beiersdorf, Bugaboo, Otto Group, K2 Forwarding, Yumeko, NINE & Co., De Kleine Keuken, Royal van Whije Verf, Intersteel, OMyBag, Regent Ingredients, Dopper, Johnny Cashew and Anchor International.

“Shipping is not yet on schedule to be CO2 neutral by 2050, even though it is technically feasible,” said Allard Castelein, Port of Rotterdam Authority CEO. “It is therefore good that shipping, as well as industry, in Europe will soon pay for CO2 emissions through the ETS. This encourages sustainability, as it makes environment- and climate-friendly alternatives more attractive financially. However, this is only possible if such alternative options are offered. Therefore, we are working with partners to develop initiatives to help make logistics more sustainable—from battery-powered inland shipping to shore power for sea-going vessels, and from bio-kerosene production for aviation to so-called green corridors for sea-going vessels. This initiative with GoodShipping and the 17 companies is part of that program.”

Dirk Kronemeijer, founder of GoodShipping, added, “We’ve seen a huge acceleration in the pace of the energy transition brought about by shippers over the past two years, which is why we want to give more companies the opportunity to have their freight shipped sustainably. The offer made by the Port of Rotterdam Authority, which aims to be the world’s most sustainable port, to support us in this was therefore easy to accept. With the Switch to Zero campaign, we’re making it easy for companies to enhance the sustainability of their transport without complex supply-chain adaptations.”

Adriaan Thierry, CEO of Bugaboo, said, “At Bugaboo we are actively reducing, not compensating, our carbon emissions through our Push to Zero program. Lowering emissions from ocean freight is part of our plan. In partnership with GoodShipping, we want to move towards a 100 percent reduction of our ocean-freight emissions. Joining the Switch to Zero campaign is another step towards this goal.”

Shipping is responsible for approximately 3 percent of global carbon-dioxide emissions but, at the same time, is a complex sector that fell outside the international climate agreements for a long time.

The chain is also fragmented because companies often only ship just a few containers on a vessel.

Dutch company GoodShipping is a market leader in insetting, the service that enables shippers and producers to transport sea-going freight using sustainable fuels instead of traditional fossil fuels.

This form of insetting accelerates the energy transition in the transport sector.

The initiative does not lie with shipping companies, but with freight owners.

GoodShipping already works for companies including DHL, IKEA, BMW, Tony’s Chocolonely, Beiersdorf and Bugaboo.

The fuel is produced from certified sustainable flows including frying oils and animal fats that are labelled as 100 percent waste and cannot be used in higher-grade products.

These advanced biofuels also do not compete with the food chain and production.