Page 10 - ITLN May June 2023 Magazine

Cover Story
Sustainability

“The biggest challenge that we The shipping industry accounts for
have faced is that of a ‘chicken and around 3% of world emissions. And
egg situation’. When we decided to that is where the biggest problem
start transporting our ocean cargo lies. Maersk agreed to begin strong
on green-fuelled vessels, we realised decarbonisation efforts with ocean
that the technology existed and that transport. Maersk took the lead in the
we could order such vessels. But since shipping sector in 2018 by committing
they were not in operation in the global to decarbonising shipping operations by
fleet anywhere, there was a challenge 2050 and developing scalable solutions
to source the fuel for these vessels. to assist the whole industry in reducing
Without enough demand for the fuel, its greenhouse gas footprint.
the fuel suppliers were not ready to “In January 2022, we moved our
invest in providing the fuel. That is when pledge to fully decarbonise our
we decided to commit by ordering the operations a decade ahead, from 2050
vessels and establishing partnerships to The logistics industry to 2040. We have therefore charted
source the fuel. The technology and fuel is becoming more a roadmap with a near term goal to
are still expensive till the right volumes environmentally have industry-leading green customer
are achieved, and therefore competitive conscious, and the offerings across the supply chain by
pricing remains the next big challenge 2030, before getting to net zero in
for us,” Agarwal added. government is paving 2040. Our 2030 targets include a 50%
“Lack of awareness & information the way towards green reduction in emissions per transported
on an organisation’s carbon footprint initiatives through container in the Maersk Ocean fleet.
is another critical challenge that initiatives like Gati And for that, we need both – green
businesses typically face while Shakti, National fuels and vessels that can sail on green
implementing sustainability measures. Master Plan, the GST fuels. As of today, we have 19 vessels
Some businesses might even lack the on order which will be able to run on
technology to track carbon footprint and reduction, and the green methanol. The first of these
then eventually make the information Sagarmala Programme. vessels will be on the water this year,
actionable. Both these challenges can be Ankur Singhai in 2023. Additionally, we have partnered
mitigated via using carbon reporting tools Mahindra Logistics with nine global suppliers of bio/e-
to identify carbon hotspots and areas of methanol to source the green fuel
operational improvement,” said Anand. needed for these vessels annually,”
and sustainable operations. Electric said Agarwal.
Initiative to implement vehicles, solar power, IoT sensors, NimbusPost has adopted the route
green logistics packaging optimisation, and green optimisation programme, which makes
In India, logistics businesses are warehouses are some of the green use of data analysis and algorithms
progressively using technology to logistics technologies employed by to determine the most efficient and
support environmentally responsible logistics companies in India. sustainable transportation routes, as
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May - June 2023 www.itln.in