Emissions Reduction for Ocean Container Transport

BSR’s Clean Cargo Working Group’s 2013 “Collaborative Progress” report-which provides data from more than 2,300 ships, representing more than 60 percent of global ocean container capacity-indicates that average carbon-dioxide emissions for global ocean container transport have declined year on year, and by more than 7 percent between 2011 and 2012.

While changes in carrier representation or global trade conditions may account for part of the emissions reductions described in the report, the continued performance improvement is also attributed to carrier fleet efficiency and year-on-year improvements in data quality.

The report, which includes data from 16 of the world’s leading ocean container carriers, also highlights how the group has improved the measurement, evaluation, and reporting of environmental performance data for global shipping customers and ocean transport providers.

Clean Cargo’s data collection activities over the 2012 reporting period show:

While changes in carrier representation or global trade conditions likely explain a portion of these results, the continued performance improvement is also attributed to carrier fleet efficiency and data quality, both of which have direct benefits for shipping customers.