Various of the Group’s business units operating in Singapore can look forward to benefits under the new Maritime Singapore Green Initiative.One of Maersk Line’s strategic focus areas is leadership on environmental performance, and it has been showing the way for the industry through initiatives such as slow steaming, voluntary fuel switches and our recent order of the environmentally improved Triple E class vessels.
As the focus on shipping and the environment grows globally, Singapore – which is home to the second busiest port in the world – has newly introduced the Maritime Singapore Green Initiative, which aims to encourage companies to undertake environment-friendly shipping practices.
Fuel switch in Singapore
To welcome this initiative, Maersk Line has committed to make a switch to low-sulphur fuel in Singapore.
“Maersk Line’s commitment and responsibility towards the environment also implies driving the industry in the right direction, and we are happy to show our support for this initiative through a fuel switch in Singapore,” said Thomas Knudsen, CEO, Maersk Line Asia Pacific.
The Maritime Singapore Green Initiative is a three-part programme providing incentives in the areas of green port, ships and technology. With the switch to low-sulphur fuel, Maersk Line’s ships will enjoy a 15% reduction on port dues in Singapore.
Competitive advantage for us
A.P. Moller Singapore, the ship-owning arm of A.P. Moller – Maersk Group, will likely stand to benefit from this Maritime Singapore Green Initiative, through fees and tax incentives for our Singapore-flagged vessels that adopt energy efficient designs.
“This initiative definitely provides us with a competitive advantage as many of our ships are energy efficient, and we are looking to grow our number of Singapore-flagged vessels to more than 100 by 2013,” said Jan Holm, Managing Director, A.P. Moller Singapore.
Maersk Maritime Technology, which also has operations locally, can also look forward to potential co-funding of green technologies.
“We have been in discussions with the authorities on how we can cooperate on new projects such as eco-retrofits, so this is indeed a timely initiative,” said Per Cato Roed, who heads the newbuilding coordination and Singapore branch of MMT.
