Hamburg Süd and Electrolux are reducing sulfur dioxide emissions – Boosting sustainability in the transportation chain

Hamburg - Hamburg Süd and its Swedish customer Electrolux are teaming up to reduce sulfur dioxide emissions in ports. During its layovers in Manzanillo (Mexico), Callao (Peru), Iquique and Puerto Angamos (Chile) between March 11th and 24th, the “Santa Catarina” (7,114 TEU) voluntarily used cleaner marine gas oil (MGO) instead of standard heavy fuel oil (HFO) to operate its auxiliary engines and boilers. Both of these must be running in port to supply the ship with electricity and heat. Hamburg Süd and Electrolux already carried out a fuel upgrade in the past, thereby making a contribution to environmental and health protection. Due to the significantly lower sulfur content of MGO, the sulfur dioxide emissions for the Electrolux cargo in question will decrease by over 95 percent. The project is being financed by both companies. While Electrolux is bearing the additional costs for the MGO, Hamburg Süd is assuming the extra operative expenses related to planning and switching fuels.

“When it comes to sustainability, reducing emissions in the interest of environmental protection plays an important role for Hamburg Süd,” says Dr. Arnt Vespermann, CEO of Hamburg Süd. “With this project, we are showing at the same time that Hamburg Süd is employing innovative solutions to meet the unique desires of our customers, in collaboration with them.”

This joint sustainability project was already launched with a pilot phase in the spring of 2017. In the four above-mentioned ports – unlike those in the North Sea and the Baltic Sea, and unlike the North American Emission Control Areas (ECAs) – switching fuel from HFO to MGO is not mandatory.

“Sulfur dioxide emissions are a major environmental issue in some of the communities around port cities where we ship our products. With this partnership, we are showing how the industry can move faster than legislation to improve the air quality in ports, and we hope more companies will get on board,” says Bjorn Vang Jensen, Vice President, Global Logistics at Electrolux. “This will support our ambition to improve the environmental footprint in the transportation chain, which is one of the goals in Electrolux sustainability strategy ‘For the Better’.”