MSC Sustainability Report Highlights Alignment of New Operations and Achievement of Key Milestones

MSC has published its 2023 Sustainability Report detailing a period of both transition and progress as the company intensified efforts to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions and achieve net zero by 2050.

The report highlighted a year of transition as MSC aligned recent acquisitions, Africa Global Logistics (AGL) and Log-in Logistica, as well as new areas of business with the company’s sustainability roadmap to ensure growth while staying on course for its goals.

The report also revealed a year of progress as the company achieved significant milestones in many critical areas of its decarbonization pathway.

For example, the report emphasized the company’s significant investment in fleet renewal. 15 state-of-the-art dual-fuel LNG-capable vessels were in service by end 2023.

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A further 88 newbuilding vessels will be added in the coming years – taking the total to over 100 - and meaning that approximately 20% of MSC’s fleet capacity (TEU) will be transported by dual-fuel vessels by 2027 (up from around 4% at end 2023).

Upgrades largely targeting in-service vessels also continued with nearly 300 retrofit dockings over the past two-and-a-half years.

The company also maintained its focus on optimising vessel performance including implementing a data-driven vessel management system using machine learning and AI to optimize energy use.

Together, these and other measures helped MSC achieve its lowest ever carbon intensity figure (EEOI) of 13.46.
 
Other report highlights included:

• In response to ship-attacks in the Red Sea, MSC rapidly adjusted its logistics network and deployed additional shipboard capacity to support customer supply chains, and both maintain trade flows and access to the social and economic benefits arising from the flow of commerce.

• Across MSC’s Cargo Division, the company improved terminal efficiency to minimize vessel time in port. It also continued reducing the direct emissions from terminals using electrified, hybrid or alternative zero-emissions yard equipment – such as automated stacking cranes, electrified or hybrid rubber-tyre gantry cranes and zero-emissions horizontal cargo handling equipment.

• The company continued expanding its landside operations to accelerate intermodality and facilitate the shift from road to rail, thereby boosting energy efficiency and cutting emissions.

• MSC’s rail business, MEDWAY, invested in 27 new electric locomotives with energy efficient features for its fleet in Belgium and Italy and by 2027 it will have a global fleet of 115 locomotives and over 4,800 railcars.

• MSC continued to explore potential partnerships centred on green hydrogen-based marine fuels and the development of synthetic fuels. Carbon capture technology feasibility studies were completed on an 8,000, 12,000 and 24,000 TEU vessels with carbon sequestration rates of up to 40%.

• MSC is continuing a programme of upskilling and reskilling initiatives to ensure a just transition for its seafarers. In 2023, 661 vessels used MSC’s Ocean Learning Platform (OLP), delivering 42,642 hours of online training including vessel- and equipment-specific courses.

• MSC was the first in the industry to reroute ships off the coasts of Greece and Sri Lanka to protect endangered whales and in 2023 the company adjusted the course of approximately 565 vessels. 

• If all ships made similar adjustments, the risk of ship-strike to sperm whales off the coast of Greece could be reduced by almost 70%, and by as much as 95% for blue whales off the coast of Sri Lanka. No whale collisions were reported in 2023.

Commenting on the report’s publication, MSC CEO Soren Toft said: “The energy transition journey is important and unique and 2023 represented another significant inflection point for the MSC Group.

"In the past 12 months we aligned our new businesses to our sustainability roadmap to ensure we continue to grow responsibly. 

"It was also a year of progress as we laid strong foundations in critical areas such as in fleet renewal, improved energy efficiency in our maritime, inland logistics and terminal operations and enhanced connections across our logistics network.

“Despite the progress, we know there’s much more to do to seize the opportunities and create a sustainable future. 

"With the MSC family’s talent, passion and entrepreneurial spirit we are contributing to the net-zero transition and building value chain resilience. Through collaboration, investment and innovation, we will navigate these challenges together.”

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