Electric vehicle fleets in Peru. Hydro-electric powered ports in Chile. A 100% green energy terminal in Belgium. DP World\u2019s ports and terminals across the world are transforming our operations\u2019 environmental impact in real-time.<\/p>\n
But in driving this successful evolution, it hasn\u2019t been a question of why we need to move the sustainability needle. The real question we asked ourselves is how and that is the question the entire sector must answer to reach net zero.<\/p>\n
Resiliency focus<\/strong><\/p>\n There is much talk of diversifying and digitilising trade and through this, ports and terminals will remain pivotal to global supply chains. As conduits for global trade patterns, advances in ports and terminals will lead to enhancements in the efficiency of an increasingly dynamic global supply chain. And as the last three years have shown – under the spotlight of the world\u2019s attention – ports and terminals must increase performance and ensure resilience to shelter our customers from disruptions, no matter where they come from.<\/p>\n Aside from resiliency, we are also increasingly reminded of the need for environmental sustainability and why we are motivated to target net-zero. Transport contributes 24% towards global CO2 emissions and shipping accounts for 10% of those emissions.<\/p>\n With the UN\u2019s International Maritime Organization (IMO) aiming to halve carbon emissions from the shipping sector by 2040, ports and terminals are vital partners in helping all businesses in our industry to reach global emission reduction goals.<\/p>\n At DP World, our ports and terminals are acting on the global business\u2019 \u2018Our World, Our Future\u2019 sustainability strategy. This focuses on day-to-day improvements in our operations towards net zero and increasing the carbon sink resilience of the water and ocean environments we work in.<\/p>\n Realistically, we are looking at becoming a carbon neutral enterprise by 2040 and achieving a total net zero enterprise by 2050. But to achieve this, we will require a laser focus to transform many of our local operational activities, if we are to reach this goal globally. Therefore, our global decarbonisation strategy aims to reduce absolute emissions as much as possible via electrification and to increase procurement of renewable energy sources.<\/p>\n Net-zero realities<\/strong><\/p>\n Assessment has been a crucial first step in understanding how we can significantly reduce emissions. From DP World\u2019s perspective, that has meant looking at which of our terminals\u2019 operations and equipment are the largest emitters.<\/p>\n For example, some of the most impactful emitters in a port environment are rubber-tyred gantry (RTG) cranes, accounting for 40% of all port and terminal equipment emissions alone. Mitigating their emissions with hybrid and electrified alternatives isn\u2019t always a simple solution, especially if the grid that they run on is powered by fossil fuels. Another significant emitter is the cold chain, which involves the transportation of temperature-sensitive products along the supply chain through thermal and refrigerated packaging.<\/p>\n An additional challenge we face as a global company is the differing viability of sustainable solutions across markets, meaning that there is not a one-size-fits-all approach once the different regional conditions and policies are taken into account. For example, in a market where the electric grid relies on load shedding to serve its population, high-emissions generators may be the only affordable option available.<\/p>\n Incremental gains<\/strong><\/p>\n Navigating these challenges has, in fact, propelled us towards finding innovative solutions. Where the beneficial impact of electrified or hybrid RTG cranes could have been mitigated by a lack of renewable energy – we have found ways to fuel our ports and terminals to reach our targets.<\/p>\n Our multimodal terminal in Antwerp, Belgium actually runs on 100% green energy. We have also reduced our CO2 emissions overall by 51% since 2013 at Antwerp, much of which has been due to investment in hybrid straddle carriers and Automated Stacking Cranes (ASCs), which are also increasing capacity.<\/p>\n Over the next five years we will be replacing approximately 1100 diesel tractors with electric alternatives. This accounts for almost half of our current global fleet. Right now, we\u2019re focusing on the areas where the technology is both viable and reliable.<\/p>\n At DP World Callao in Peru, the terminal is becoming fully electric. Not only is it the largest port in the country, but it is the first in the world to purchase a fleet of 20 electric internal terminal vehicles (ITVs). The additional purchase of 12 electric RTGs and three ship-to-shore quay cranes (STS-QCs) will see a reduction of 1.5 million litres of diesel used every year. Retrofitting all diesel equipment will allow the terminal to play its part in our journey to net zero.<\/p>\n Investing in new equipment isn\u2019t the only way to reach our goals. Smarter practices and operations are also supporting our efforts, such as the sustainable connection of our Stuttgart, Germany and Rotterdam, Netherlands terminals.<\/p>\n Using barges to connect the two allows us to move cargo over more than 1,000 kilometres with fuel consumption of less than five litres. Compared with rail or road, the efficiency gained by switching to barge transport reduces fuel consumption considerably. Our R&D teams continue to test alternative vessel and vehicle solutions to cut emissions throughout the supply chain.<\/p>\n The granular action we take at our ports and terminals demonstrates that this journey is often about incremental gains. But we cannot understate the immense value found in collaborative efforts across the shipping industry to reach net zero.<\/p>\n At COP27, we committed to the Green Shipping Challenge, that encourages actors in the shipping value chain to come forward with concrete announcements for ocean-based climate actions. Earlier this year, we also joined forces with the M\u00e6rsk Mc-Kinney M\u00f8ller Center for Zero Carbon Shipping to support joint research and development towards practical methods of decarbonising the maritime industry.<\/p>\n Our operational initiatives, innovations and efficiencies are, of course, driven by our own strategy to reach net zero \u2013 the 2050 goal is clear across our business and, in every region. As part of our Green Shipping Challenge commitment, we recently announced an investment of US$500 million to provide real-world, real-time, on-the-ground solutions to cut carbon over the next five years.<\/p>\n Similar investment is needed by all port and terminal operators around the world. While our plans and strategies should and do vary, it is only with collective sector efforts that we can truly inspire all parties towards a net zero reality.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" We are no stranger in driving sustainability because our focus is on how we reach our green targets,\u00a0writes\u00a0Tiemen Meester, chief operating officer, ports & terminals, DP World<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":3208,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[74],"tags":[354,249,97,949,174,481,71],"sponsor":[],"class_list":["post-3207","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-insight-opinion-greenport","tag-digitalisation","tag-dp-world","tag-electric-vehicles","tag-hydro-electric","tag-renewables","tag-supply-chains","tag-sustainability"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.portstrategy.com\/greenport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3207","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.portstrategy.com\/greenport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.portstrategy.com\/greenport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.portstrategy.com\/greenport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.portstrategy.com\/greenport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3207"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.portstrategy.com\/greenport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3207\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3209,"href":"https:\/\/www.portstrategy.com\/greenport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3207\/revisions\/3209"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.portstrategy.com\/greenport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3208"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.portstrategy.com\/greenport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3207"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.portstrategy.com\/greenport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3207"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.portstrategy.com\/greenport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3207"},{"taxonomy":"sponsor","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.portstrategy.com\/greenport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/sponsor?post=3207"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}