Shipping welcomes Eco-Labelling

Such a move will help to de-bug the two “food miles” myths – that the distance a product is transported provides a guide to its carbon footprint and that imported food is commonly transported by air”. Transporting a product by sea produces about 1% of the carbon dioxide that would be produced by carrying the same item the same distance by air – so one “food mile” by ship is the equivalent in CO2 output of 100 “food-miles” by air or 10 “food-miles” by road. The second myth is that the majority of foodstuffs are moved by air. As an example of ‘air-freighted food’ which is better for the environment than locally grown produce could be the case of New Zealand lamb. Studies have indeed shown that New Zealand lamb has a lower carbon footprint than lamb produced in the UK, but a major reason why this is possible is that all New Zealand lamb is brought in by ship, none by plane. “Air-freight is used for some high value low-weight items, or products from particularly land-locked areas but it is the carbon-friendly shipping industry that carries the vast majority. Perhaps what we really need is for most goods to be labelled “transported by ship, the most carbon-friendly form of transport?” asks Mark Brownrigg the Director- General of the UK Chamber of Shipping.