43-44/2019 Plants in place of numbers
Who would have thought that climate could ever steal digitalisation’s show? Now it’s happening, not only on the big political stage, but also in our modest industry. It was to be expected that the reduction of the maximum sulphur content allowed in heavy fuel oil used as ship fuel from 2020 onwards, and stricter nitrogen dioxide emission limits, would cast long shadows. At the latest shipping conferences, such as the XXIII Euromed Convention, organised by the Grimaldi shipping line, the mix of alternative fuels and improved ship equipment was the focus of many debates. But there’s a new characteristic on the block.
Carriers, logisticians and airlines, for example, as well as large shippers, are now going beyond calculating and optimising the pollution emitted by their transports – the era of renunciations has begun. Hapag-Lloyd has followed in CMA CGM’s footsteps and also stated that, for ecological reasons, it will no longer use the Northeast Passage to ship goods through the Arctic Sea. It has thus become a little harder to claim that pressure from the streets has no effect on our industry, which isn’t even much in the public spotlight.
Christian Doepgen
Editor-in-chief
