MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA, U.S. — Cargill has formed a collaboration with Maersk Tankers and Mitsui & Co. to reduce the use of global greenhouse gases (GHGs) within shipping. The new partnership stems from the companies recognition of a need to address climate change.

“We are excited to bring together three of the largest players in their respective maritime market segments to actively make shipping more sustainable,” said George Wells, global head of assets and structuring at Cargill Ocean Transportation. “With the right expertise, transparency and collaboration, we can make changes to vessels and contracts that will significantly reduce shipping’s GHG footprint.”

Together, the companies will work toward lowering maritime GHG emissions by utilizing existing fuel-saving technologies and exploring new technical solutions. The aim is to prove that it can make economic sense for both owners and charterers if they work more closely together to make vessels more fuel efficient, to demonstrate that sustainable shipping can also be commercially viable.

“Maersk Tankers has extensive knowledge and experience in testing a wide range of technologies that can drive fuel efficiencies,” said Tommy Thomassen, chief technical officer at Maersk Tankers. “This collaboration represents an opportunity to share this knowledge with others and to deploy these technologies in a larger fleet. Through that, we can accelerate the impact on reducing GHG globally.”

The collaboration, which is closely aligned with the International Maritime Organization’s target for international shipping to cut annual GHG emissions by 50% by 2050, has a long-term objective of providing solutions for maritime industry actors looking to explore new technologies to reduce their emissions.

“The collaboration will contribute to the sustainable growth of the shipping industry, whilst promoting a more environmentally conscious society,” Takuya Shirai, general manager of the ship business division at Mitsui & Co.

Initially, the partnership will focus on testing existing proven technologies on ships under their command, with work already underway with several owners to invest in and install energy saving devices onboard vessels under their charter.

These projects also will involve measures to optimize 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. It also will explore new technologies that could potentially transform maritime emissions in the long term.