DHL Global Forwarding, Hapag-Lloyd sign deal for sustainable biofuel transport

DHL Global Forwarding has signed an agreement with ocean carrier Hapag-Lloyd to use advanced biofuels for sustainable ocean transport.

Under the new deal, Hapag-Lloyd will ship 18,000 Twenty-Foot Equivalent Units (TEU) of DHL’s volume using advanced biofuels, which is equivalent to a reduction of 14,000 tons of Well-to-Wake CO2 emissions.

Advanced biofuels are derived from biological materials, such as used cooking oil and other waste products.

This material is used to manufacture a fatty acid methyl ester (FAME), which is then mixed with varying proportions of low sulphur fuel oil.

Compared to standard fuels, this pure biofuel product lowers greenhouse gas emissions by more than 80 percent.

“The decarbonisation of heavy transport is an important challenge that the entire industry needs to rethink,” said Dominique von Orelli, Global Head of Ocean Freight at DHL Global Forwarding.

“That is why we are very proud to have found a partner in Hapag-Lloyd that shares the same ambitions for a climate-neutral world as anchored in the Paris Agreement,” Orelli said.

“Together we want to pave the way for Book & Claim and insetting mechanisms to make it easier for shippers to use sustainable fuels,” he said.

The project envisions decarbonising container shipping and logistics and will demonstrate the scalability of sustainable transport solutions.

It will also display the relevance of sustainable fuels in today’s market.

Related: DHL decarbonises 100% of its LCL ocean freight shipments

Danny Smolders, Managing Director Global Sales at Hapag-Lloyd, said they are very happy to have signed the contract with DHL as they both share the values and ambition to protect the environment and move towards a greener future.

“Biofuel will play a significant role in the upcoming years on our path to becoming net-zero carbon by 2045,” Smolders said.

“This project will bring us a step closer to offering our customers biofuel-powered transportation as a commercial product and thereby to supporting them in their efforts to reduce their carbon footprint,” he said.

The new agreement is aligned under DHL’s and Hapag-Lloyd’s sustainability strategy to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050 and 2045 respectively.

DHL said that it will spend €7 billion (A $10 billion) in sustainable fuel and clean technologies by 2030, to reduce CO2 emissions in line with the Paris Climate Agreement.