The announcement, from Cargill, Huntsman Corporation and UNIPEC UK who combined charter over 350 million tonnes of commodities annually, signifies a milestone for the vessel fuel efficiency ratings system, the Existing Vessel Design Index (EVDIä), created by ship vetting specialist RightShip and published on ShippingEfficiency.org - an initiative launched by the Carbon War Room and RightShip to increase information flows around international shipping's energy efficiency, as an GHG Emissions Rating (A-G rating) benchmarking system. The efficiency ratings system - containing efficiency information on over 60,000 vessels including container ships, tankers, bulk carriers, cargo ships - enables charterers to instantly see a ship’s theoretical greenhouse gas emissions and relative energy efficiency as determined by RightShip’s EVDIärated from A (most efficient) to G (least efficient), compared to ships of similar size and type.
“Cargill has introduced a senior management override on the use of the least energy efficiency vessels. By choosing the more efficient vessel available to us, we are making a strong statement to the market,” said Jonathan Stoneley, Environment and Compliance manager, Cargill Ocean Transportation. “We hope this action will demonstrate to ship owners that they can and should do more in terms of efficiency, and that the market will reward them and will also show other charterers the decision support tools available if they want to operate more efficiently. We will work together with customers, as best appropriate, to help them meet their environmental objectives linked to transportation and this rating system.
“Cargill is committed to minimizing our environmental impact throughout our global operations. We do this by developing management systems and policies to ensure best practice environmental compliance and continually improving performance on criteria relevant to our business and operations. We partner with governments, non-governmental organizations, communities, employees and customers to leverage market-based solutions to reduce the environmental footprints of the supply chains in which we participate.”
Peter Boyd, COO of Carbon War Room, noted: “This deal represents the first major capital shift on behalf of the charterers towards making greater efficiency a factor in their vessel chartering decisions. Cargill, Huntsman Corporation and UNIPEC UK should be congratulated for being the first to make this commitment. We’d encourage other charterers within the market, to look towards the simple and understandable ways to quantify, measure and track efficiency represented by the efficiency rating system and the A-G benchmark. Those that lead the curve on presenting more eco-efficient vessels will benefit from the choices charterers are making and the charterers themselves will see lowered operating costs through fuel efficiency - a win-win-win decision for the owner, the charterer and the environment.”
