Raising the bar in environmental stewardship

The MV Carl Schulte, owned by Berhard Schulte, has many design features that enhance environmental sustainability and enables the vessel to perform in the top 2% of container ships of its size and type.

It has been graded by maritime risk management specialist RightShip as A+ on the Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Emissions scale and has also been given a five-star Environmental Score rating, placing it in the top 20 vessels of the 76,000 graded by RightShip.

Recently the vessel established an environmental first by consecutively visiting the Port of Vancouver and Port of Prince Rupert, attracting the significant economic benefits offered through the respective ports’ environmental incentive programmes.

These two leading ports have positioned themselves as environmental leaders with their incentive programmes – EcoAction and Green Wave.

Vancouver’s EcoAction programme, launched in 2007, recognises and rewards vessels that go beyond requirements to reduce their air emissions, offering a discount of up to 47% in harbour dues.

The Port of Prince Rupert launched its Green Wave vessel programme in 2013. Green Wave recognises and rewards vessels that have a lower environmental footprint, offering three levels of discounted harbour dues, up to 50%, based on the environmental performance of the vessel.

Vessels are rewarded through a range of environmental arrangements including the Green Marine programme, RightShip’s GHG Emissions Rating and Environmental Score, Environmental Ship Index, Green Award certification, Energy Efficiency Design Index (EEDI) and the Clean Shipping Index.

Both programmes are constantly under review as both ports seek to strengthen and raise the bar for the future.