Shippers call for greener ships

   Three global shippers, representing more than 350 million tons of ocean freight annually, have agreed to limit their ocean charters to only the high-end of fuel-efficient ships.
   A new agreement between the food giant Cargill, chemical developer Huntsman Corp., and the U.K. oil company UNIPEC shows a resolute approach to reducing carbon emissions on the seas. The companies have agreed to monitor and use the “greenest” possible ships they can find because of concerns that their supply chains impact the environment.
   The companies hope to combat the call for more local and environmentally-friendly goods by adjusting their operations to meet consumer demands around production and shipping, not the actual products themselves. The goal is to move past local-goods demands and show ocean freight is a clean and viable alternative, and save their bottom lines through sales and improved efficiencies by digging deep into every aspect of the supply chain.
   One service they will likely use is ShippingEfficiency.org, a data hub that tracks metrics on more than 60,000 ships across the world. The companies can use services like this to monitor a variety of environmental performance metrics for bulk carriers, cargo ships, containers, and tankers, including the RightShip’s Existing Vessel Design Index – an estimated measure of the CO₂ emitted per ton nautical mile – that allows for comparisons between ships. – Geoff Whiting