Hapag-Lloyd launches huge fleet sustainability drive

The programme is one of Hapag-Lloyds biggest sustainability projects and the move represents a big step forwards in achieving its green targets.

“Sustainability is the buzzword of our time as well as being demanded of us by the so-called IMO 2023. In addition to our self-set decarbonisation targets, the IMO requires international shipping to reduce CO2 emissions by 40% by 2030 compared to 2008 levels,” said Martin Grieger, director fleet upgrade, Hapag-Lloyd.

“We are looking at all the ships – including the older and the chartered ones – and determining where we see potential for efficiency improvements. We want to reduce the consumption of the existing fleet or transport more containers with the same output.”

Giant puzzle

Frank Tiedemann, manager fleet upgrade, said that this evaluation is undertaken by the fleet analytics group which decides which concrete measures are feasible in order to operate the ships as sustainably as possible and also reduce costs at the same time. Most of this potential is identified using measurements from past voyages.

For example, was only half the engine’s power regularly used over a longer period of time, or has there been a decrease in the average sailing speed? In which case, it can pay off to replace a ship’s propeller and bulbous bow.

And this, in turn, brings a strategic partner like Mecklenburger Metallguss into the picture, which has the tremendous advantage of being able to develop a new propeller design using only computers.

The propeller’s design, as well as its new rotational speed and different efficiency level, will have a direct influence on the main engine so this also needs to be adjusted. It first needs to be adapted to the new parameters, then control and monitoring also have to be fine-tuned in consultation with manufacturers and service providers. 

According to Hapag-Lloyds’ predictions, the retrofit will reduce the company’s fuel consumption by about 10%, which will be a huge step forward.

But other measures such as LED lighting, radio-controlled cooling water pumps and automatic on-demand fans in the engine room and holds will help to lower energy requirements still further.