Hapag-Lloyd’s new ‘Ship Green’ relies on marine biofuel to cut customers’ CO2 emissions

Image: Hapag-Lloyd

Hapag-Lloyd is introducing “Ship Green,” a new solution for climate-friendly transportation based on biofuel.

The solution is accessible from anywhere at any time and requires no long-term commitment from customers.

In the first rollout stage, customers can add Ship Green as an additional service to their existing bookings.

With Ship Green, customers can choose among three different options, representing different levels of avoidance in carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) emissions: 100 percent, 50 percent or 25 percent of their shipment’s ocean-leg CO2e emissions.

The Ship Green options are available for confirmed shipments via the Online Business Suite on Hapag-Lloyd’s website.

The emissions avoidance results from the use of biofuel instead of conventional marine fuel oil within Hapag-Lloyd’s fleet.

The company guarantees that it uses biofuel from second-generation feedstock sourced from certified supply chains and produced from waste material, such as brown grease or used cooking oil.

It also assures that no edible virgin oils are included in the fuel.

The avoided emissions are allocated to shipments with the book-and-claim approach, meaning that Hapag-Lloyd can attribute avoided CO2e emissions to all ocean-leg transports regardless of the vessel and route used.

At present, Ship Green is only available for dry cargo, but it will be expanded to other cargo types in the future.

“At Hapag-Lloyd, we are committed to making it easier for our customers to avoid emissions and contribute to decarbonization,” said Rolf Habben Jansen, CEO of Hapag-Lloyd. “With our new Ship Green solution, we are offering our customers an easy and flexible way to reduce their environmental footprint and make their supply chain more sustainable.”

At the end of every quarter, customers will receive an emissions-avoidance declaration verifying the total emissions prevented through Ship Green in the respective period.

The underlying emissions-avoidance calculation is based on the renowned emissions-accounting methodology of the Clean Cargo Initiative, which has become a common standard widely used by carriers, freight forwarders and shippers.

In the past, Hapag-Lloyd has been successfully testing climate-friendly transportation by means of biofuel with selected customers and thereby demonstrated the scalability of sustainable transport solutions.

By offering Ship Green, Hapag-Lloyd is continuing along its path towards achieving climate-neutral fleet operations by 2045.