[160321.EN.BIZ] Shippers Will Pay As Carriers Spends Billions To Fight Global Warming

 

DANISH shipping giant Maersk group CEO Soren Skou declared carriers will pay double in fuel costs to fight global warming that will come down to a 20 per cent price increase for shippers, reports Hellenic Shipping News.

Maersk spends US$4 billion a year on fuel. "For the individual [retail] consumer, for the individual product, it will be almost nothing. It would in a container with sneakers from Vietnam, translate into something like six cents per pair of sneakers. So I don't think that it will really impact the consumption opportunities for consumers," said Mr Skou.

The shipping industry is working on a $5 billion plan to fund zero-emission vessels. "I'm absolutely sure that this is doable, from a consumer point of view," said Mr Skou.

2020 shipping rates surged due to the Covid crisis, causing Maersk's profits to soar 44 per cent to $8.2 billion. Those profits are being invested in reducing emissions.

Prof Alan McKinnon of Germany's Kuehne Logistics University stated how the use of methanol can offer a longer-term pathway to decarbonise shipping.

"The use of methanol certainly offers a longer-term pathway to decarbonised shipping but only in its renewable forms, which are currently in very short supply. Scaling up production and distribution will require huge capital investment and take many years," said Mr McKinnon.

Mr Skou also declared his concerns for interruptions to global trade because of the pandemic, as more than 200,000 seafarers are currently stuck at sea beyond the end of their contract.

Maersk was one of more than 300 companies and organisations that labelled the seafarers' fate a humanitarian crisis at sea, urging all governments to treat them as key workers

"Think about the alternative, if we're not able to keep global trade moving, then we would quickly run out of food, and many other essential products," said Mr Skou.

"We at any given time have 6,000 people on the ships. Fifty-five per cent of them were out longer than the longest duration of their contract, and we had fixed the problem by Christmas," said Mr Skou.

Source : HKSG / Photo : KNKX.