AkzoNobel and U-Ming Marine join SSI

AkzoNobel and U-Ming Marine join more than 18 global companies, including Maersk Line, Cargill, Lloyd’s Register, DNV, Wärtsilä, Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering (DSME), who are working to achieve a sustainable and profitable shipping industry by 2040.

The partnership aims to tackle industry issues with four initial workstreams – the finance workstream, materials management workstream, energy tech workstream and credible benchmarking workstream.

At an industry event in Singapore in September 2013, the SSI will launch its practical outputs of these workstreams, report on progress of its 2040 vision and announce future plans for 2013 to 2014.

Andre Veneman, corporate sustainability director, AkzoNobel, said: “Our membership of the Sustainable Shipping Initiative supports our vision of working in partnership with other supply chain experts to apply sustainability thinking through the full value chain. Together we can make a real difference to our industry for the future.”

C K Ong, president, U-Ming, added: “Forum for the Future has been a pioneering supporter of the shipping industry in setting up the Sustainable Shipping Initiative. As one of the world’s major shipping lines we felt it was critical to take part in sharing ideas and knowledge for the future and to encourage widespread adoption of new thinking to solve mutual problems.”