16 March (Lloyd's List) - MEDITERRANEAN Shipping Co has signed an agreement with the Global Centre for Maritime Decarbonisation to accelerate the shipping industry’s push to cut emissions.

The initiative aims to help the industry decarbonise by shaping standards for future fuels, financing first-of-a-kind projects, and piloting low-carbon solutions in an end-to-end manner under real-world operation conditions, according to a statement.

Under the five-year partnership agreement, MSC will provide funding towards GCMD’s pooled resources for pilots and trials. The container line will also make in-kind contributions through its participation in projects, including access to vessels, operational equipment and other assets, as well as vessel-operating data and evaluation reports so their learnings can help inform GCMD’s future trials.

“We are committed to helping to tackle climate change and in GCMD, we believe we have found an excellent partner to help drive the green transition in our sector,” said Bud Darr, head of maritime policy and government affairs at MSC.

Lynn Loo, chief executive of the Singapore-based GCMD, said that despite economic uncertainties, decarbonising shipping will need container lines “who are closest to customers willing to pay a green premium — to make hard commitments for the industry to progress towards the International Maritime Organization’s 2030 and 2050 goals”.

MSC, the world’s largest shipping line, has 730 vessels and the industry’s largest newbuilding orderbook of energy-efficient containerships. 

It has been working on energy efficiency and was an early adopter of responsibly sourced blended biofuels as a transitional fuel, as well as advocating the availability of supply of a range of alternative fuels and has set a clear goal to achieve net decarbonisation by 2050.