International transporters Cargill, chemicals manufacturer Huntsman and oil trader UNIPEC have pledged to only charter more efficient vessels for international shipping.
The commitment from the three firms, which together ship over 350 million tonnes of commodities annually, is the first of its kind in the industry.
“By choosing the more efficient vessel available to us, we are making a strong statement to the market,” says Jonathan Stoneley of Cargill Ocean Transportation. “We hope this action will demonstrate to ship owners that they can and should do more in terms of efficiency, and that the market will reward them [if they do].”
The firms will charter vessels on their basis of their fuel efficiency rating set out in the Existing Vessel Design Index (EVDI) system, which has been created by RightShip and published on ShippingEfficiency.org – a joint initiative with Richard Branson’s Carbon War Room.
The system rates vessels from A to G on the basis of their greenhouse gas emissions according to their size per nautical mile travelled and currently covers over 60,000 container ships, tankers, bulk carriers and cargo ships.
“This deal represents the first major capital shift on behalf of the charterers towards making greater efficiency a factor in their vessel chartering decisions,” says Peter Boyd, COO of the Carbon War Room. “We’d encourage other charterers within the market, to look towards the simple and understandable ways to quantify, measure and track efficiency… [it is] a win-win-win decision for the owner, the charterer and the environment.”
For further information:
www.carbonwarroom.com/
www.shippingefficiency.org
www.rightship.com
www.cargill.com/company/businesses/cargill-ocean-transportation/index.jsp
www.huntsman.com
Related stories:
EU launches plan to start monitoring shipping emissions (2-Oct)
IMO fails to agree on ways of curbing shipping emissions (6-Mar)
Maersk and US Navy to collaborate on biofuel tests (14-Dec 2011)
Scottish shipbuilder to create £20 million environmentally friendly ferries (7-Nov 2011)
Article source: http://www.energyefficiencynews.com/i/5426/
