Air and ocean freight company DHL Global Forwarding has signed an agreement with worldwide liner shipping business Hapag-Lloyd for the use of advanced biofuels when conducting maritime transportation operations.
Initially, Hapag-Lloyd will ship 18,000 TEU of DHL’s volume using advanced biofuels, equivalent to a reduction of 14,000 tons of well-to-wake CO2 emissions. Through the joint project, both parties aim to demonstrate the scalability of sustainable transportation solutions and the relevance of sustainable fuels in the current market.
The advanced biofuels are based on raw biological materials such as used cooking oil and other waste products. This is then used to produce a fatty acid methyl ester which can be mixed with differing proportions of low-sulphur fuel oil. Compared to conventional fuels, the pure biofuel product can lower greenhouse gas emissions by more than 80%.
Hapag-Lloyd has been testing advanced biofuels since 2020 and offers a carbon reduced transportation solution which utilizes biofuel blends instead of traditional fossil marine fuel oil.
“The decarbonization of heavy transport is an important challenge that the entire industry needs to rethink,” said Dominique von Orelli, global head of ocean Freight at DHL Global Forwarding. “That is why we are very proud to have found a partner in Hapag-Lloyd that shares the same ambitions for a climate-neutral world as anchored in the Paris Agreement. Together we want to pave the way for Book & Claim and insetting mechanisms to make it easier for shippers to use sustainable fuels.”
“We are very happy to have signed this contract on using a considerable amount of advanced biofuel with DHL, as we both share the values and ambition to protect our environment and move towards a greener future,” added Danny Smolders, managing director, global sales, at Hapag-Lloyd.
Biofuel will play a significant role in the upcoming years on our path to becoming net-zero carbon by 2045. This project will bring us a step closer to offering our customers biofuel-powered transportation as a commercial product and thereby to supporting them in their efforts to reduce their carbon footprint.”