Forto, Hapag-Lloyd partner to deliver marine biofuel option for shipping customers

Through a new partnership with Hapag-Lloyd, a leading global liner shipping company, Forto has launched a biofuel program for ocean-shipping customers who seek to reduce their transport emissions.

Customers booking full-container load (FCL) sea-freight shipments with Forto can now add the use of advanced biofuel to their bookings, effectively reducing 100 percent of their transport’s greenhouse-gas (GHG) emissions.

As Hapag-Lloyd has extended its biofuel strategy to work with selected key partners, Forto has delivered the first customer in Hapag-Lloyd’s biofuel program.

Shipping goods with second- and third-generation biofuel options through Forto and Hapag-Lloyd is designed to make it easy for customers to reduce scope 3 emissions and achieve emission-reduction goals. Forto supports customers throughout the process.

When selecting a biofuel option, customers receive data-based visibility over the impact of biofuel on sea freight-related GHG emissions and certificates issued by a third-party monitored process.

“Making the shift away from the logistics industry’s reliance on fossil fuels is an essential step towards a greener future,” said Michael Wax, CEO and co-founder of Forto. “We see it as our responsibility to continue to deliver transparent and credible solutions that can help our customers navigate this journey as they strive to reduce their environmental impact. Hapag-Lloyd has made a decisive investment in a commercially available biofuel product and their sustainability strategy is amongst the boldest steps towards the reduction of greenhouse-gas emissions in the industry.”

Mirja Nibbe, Hapag-Lloyd managing director for the Germany and Central Europe regions, added, “The biofuel offer for our customers plays an important role as a first step on our journey towards being net zero. It is through close collaboration between Hapag-Lloyd and our customers to jointly tackle the challenges ahead of us. Thus, we are very happy to work together with Forto on this important topic.”

In November, Hapag-Lloyd announced its new sustainability strategy with the target to be net-zero carbon by 2045.

As part of Hapag-Lloyd's commitment to decarbonization and reduction of GHG emissions, the company has announced plans to reduce CO2e intensity of its entire fleet by 30 percent by 2030 as compared with 2019.

The new Forto biofuel initiative is the next step in the company’s strategy to drive transformation towards sustainable supply chains, with the ultimate goal of helping customers make the sustainable transport option their default choice.

Forto’s range of sustainability solutions starts by providing customers with emissions visibility and information that empowers them to make impactful data-based decisions.

In addition to the biofuel program, Forto offers CO2e-emission offsets for all modes of transport, and German-based rail pre- and on-carriage intermodal volumes are transported using trains powered by renewable energy.

The commitment to sustainable-transport offerings is reinforced with the company’s own investments on top of those of the customers. Forto teams are trained to work together strategically with partners, customers and other stakeholders to explore sustainability options and find solutions that fit their needs.

With a fleet of 248 modern container ships and a total transport capacity of 1.8 million 20-foot equivalent units (TEU), Hapag-Lloyd is one of the world’s leading liner shipping companies.

Forto platform technologies address the entire process stream, from offer, booking, document administration, tracking and tracing to proactive exemption processing and analysis. Leading manufacturers and e-commerce brands are among the 2,500 customers using Forto’s digitally focused offerings as part of their supply-chain delivery. Forto is based in Berlin, Germany.