Hapag to fund studies on maritime decarbonisation

German carrier Hapag-Lloyd signed a strategic partnership agreement with Singapore-based Global Centre for Maritime Decarbonisation (GCMD) to cooperate on efforts contributing to maritime decarbonisation.

"The Centre and Hapag-Lloyd will focus on collaboration to amplify the impact of the solutions and accelerate the time to deployment and adoption." an official statement from GCMD said.

The partnership also adds $10 million in funding, giving a further boost to GCMD's efforts in conducting pilots and trials, the statement added.

Hapag is intensifying efforts to reduce emissions of its entire fleet by 30 percent by 2030 compared to 2019, and is further aiming to be climate-neutral by 2045- ahead of the IMO 2050 target.

"Hapag-Lloyd currently represents 7 percent of the global TEU capacity. Together with GCMD founding partner ONE, the two companies represent a significant 13 percent of the world's total TEU capacity. With both Hapag-Lloyd and ONE onboard, the Centre expects greater proliferation of its findings towards actual deployment, amplifying the overall impact of GCMD's decarbonisaton efforts."

"Shipping is a hard-to-abate sector and to reach the IMO's climate change goals, collaboration across the value chain is required," says Lynn Loo, CEO, GCMD. "Hapag-Lloyd is a forward-leaning organisation and has a strong presence in the container shipping business. With strong commitment and ambition, the participation of Hapag-Lloyd as a strategic partner will allow both organisations to share knowledge, build on existing initiatives and provide additional resources for pilots and trials. We are also pleased to welcome Hapag-Lloyd's CEO Rolf Habben Jansen to our Governing board."

Jansen added: "Through our strategic partnership with GCMD, we will combine our efforts towards climate-neutral shipping. I am very honoured to be welcomed to the board of the GCMD. Sustainability is an essential part of Hapag-Lloyd's corporate strategy with decarbonisation playing a key role. We look forward to this partnership and to jointly making progress in decarbonising the maritime industry."

GCMD was formed on August 1, 2021 with funding from the Maritime & Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) and six founding partners - BHP, BW, DNV Foundation, Eastern Pacific Shipping, Ocean Network Express and Sembcorp Marine.