Global agribusiness giant Cargill has partnered up with Maersk Tankers and Mitsui & Co to accelerate the reduction of greenhouse gases (GHG) within shipping.
“With the right expertise, transparency and collaboration, we can actively make changes to vessels and contracts that will significantly reduce shipping’s GHG footprint,” George Wells, global head of assets and structuring at Cargill Ocean Transportation said on 11 October.
The companies would work together to fully exploit fuel saving technologies and explore new technical solutions with a long-term objective of providing “over-the-shelf” solutions to maritime industry actors, in line with the International Maritime Organization’s target to reduce emissions in international shipping by 50% by 2050.
Cargill said it would provide access to its extensive fleet, Danish shipper Maersk Tankers would bring a strong legacy of implementing innovation on product tankers and Japan’s Mitsui would offer vessel construction and trading expertise.
Initially, the partnership would focus on testing and trialling existing proven technologies on ships under their command, with work already underway with several owners to invest and install energy saving devices on board vessels under their charter.
“These projects will involve measures to optimise vessel performance by sharing and using data from the vessel in conjunction with weather routing, as well as mechanisms that enable the benefits of improved performance to be shared by both owner and charterer.”
Cargill Ocean Transportation charters over 650 dry bulk and tanker vessels every year. Maersk Tankers is a leading player in the product tanker industry, operating one of the world’s largest fleets of vessels. Mitsui is a trading and investment company that operates in 66 countries and is active in both trading and chartering.
