Maersk delivers 660,000+ TEU on green fuels amid growing shipper demand

Danish container shipping major Maersk said that over 200 customers signed up for its ECO Delivery product in 2023, marking a considerable growth for the service driven by increasing demand from shippers from various sectors.

In a nutshell, Maersk ECO Delivery Ocean product replaces fossil fuels with green fuels such as bio diesel and green methanol. The bio diesel is solely sourced from waste streams and lead to GHG emission reductions of above 80% on a well-to-wake basis, according to Maersk’s data.

In September 2023, Maersk introduced also green methanol as a low emission fuel in container shipping. Up to now, the green methanol’s GHG reduction lies still below the figures of bio-fuels, but with the start of the scalable production of e-methanol, Maersk expects the emission reductions should go up to above 90% once the processes are all optimized.

The growth in demand for greener ocean transport comes as shippers commit to curb greenhouse gas emissions from their logistics. According to Maersk, companies at the forefront include retail, lifestyle, automotive and FMCG sectors.

After 480,000 standard containers (TEU) in 2022, Maersk transported more than 660,000 TEU on green fuels last year. 212 customers opted for ECO Delivery Ocean for their seaborne cargo in 2023 and saved over 683,000 tonnes of greenhouse gases from being emitted into the atmosphere, Maersk said.

The 660,000 standard containers transported on green fuels in 2023 equal 3% of the companny’s global ocean transport volume.

“We’re continually exploring sustainability opportunities across our supply chain and our overall business, as we work towards becoming a climate-neutral company by 2040, By switching to renewable fuel, we have achieved an immediate reduction in fossil CO₂ emissions from intercontinental ocean freight by at least 84% compared to fossil fuel. This initiative shows that we can act now and implement solutions that achieve significant results. We all have a responsibility to act,” Javier Varela, Chief Operating Officer at Volvo Cars said. Volvo announced their partnership with Maersk on ECO Delivery product in July 2023.

“In the beginning, we have had many customers giving ECO Delivery Ocean a first try for some of their cargo volumes. After they realized how well it is working, more and more customers either increased the cargo volume or committed themselves even to ship 100% of their seaborne cargo under Maersk care with ECO Delivery Ocean. These 100% contracts put really big smiles on the faces of me and my team members as we knew: this is the breakthrough of something that makes a real change for our climate,” Maja Nyvold, Head of Surcharges, Value Adding Services and Energy in the Ocean business segment at Maersk, said.

Amid growing demand Maersk launched an ECO Delivery Inland product in 2023 in select locations within the USA using owned and leased electric trucks. The company also began deploying heavy duty electrical trucks, together with partners, in Germany, Norway, Sweden, the UK and China, and pilots in Brazil.

“In 2024, we will continue broadening our ECO Delivery Inland offerings across both geographies and transport modes, building more vendor partnerships. This includes expanding to electric rail solutions and increasing our heavy electric truck capacity, who talks to many customers from all areas about sustainability. We have received a lot of good feedback on inland solutions, and we are open for any customer who is interested to reduce emissions on truck and rail. Our experience is that our vendors for these hinterland solutions are also keen on developing and piloting low emission transports. We started an exciting rail project for instance in Spain,” Kaisa Helena Tikk, Maersk’s Commercial Sustainability team, said.

Maersk has a goal to become a climate-neutral company by 2024.