New Maersk Research Center to Lead the Way for Sustainable Shipping

The shipping industry has made a strong commitment to reduce its global carbon emissions towards 2050. Towards this end, a group of leading industry players are taking the next step to develop new fuel types and technologies by launching the Mærsk Mc-Kinney Møller Center for Zero Carbon Shipping.

The founding company partners behind this initiative are ABS, A.P. Møller - Mærsk, Cargill, MAN Energy Solutions, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, NYK Line and Siemens Energy.

The center, which will be based in Copenhagen, Denmark, is made possible by a start-up donation of DKK 400m by the A.P. Møller Foundation.

The shipping sector accounts for around 3% of global carbon emissions. The industry has made a firm commitment to reduce this to zero within this century.

Chairman of the Board in the A.P. Møller Foundation, Ane Uggla said: “With this donation, The A. P. Møller Foundation wishes to support the efforts to solve the climate issue in global shipping.

"My father, Mærsk Mc-Kinney Møller was a visionary leader in the global shipping industry for more than 7 decades. He was concerned about shipping’s impact on the environment.

"Already in the 1980s he championed the use of low sulphur fuel, and he pioneered the first double hull oil tankers in the 1990s to minimize the risk of oil spills. Therefore, I find it very natural that my Father’s name will be connected to the center.”

The center will be a non-profit organization, set up as a commercial foundation with a charitable purpose. As an independent research center, it will work across the entire shipping sector with industry, academia and authorities.

To define the strategic direction of the center, a Board of Directors is being established. Søren Skou, CEO of A.P. Møller – Mærsk has been confirmed as Board Member. Additional members of the Board of Directors will be announced upon appointment.

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Future member of the Board, Søren Skou, said: “The founding partners and the A.P. Møller Foundation share a long-term ambition to decarbonize the shipping industry. The establishment of the center is a quantum leap towards realizing that ambition.

"This joint initiative will fast-track the maturation of solutions and strengthen the basis for decision making among industry players and regulators and hence accelerate investments and implementation of new technologies. I am looking forward to join the Board of this ambitious collaboration.”

Furthermore, the center will have a management board, which will be headed by Bo Cerup-Simonsen as CEO of the center.

During the first two to three years the center will recruit around 100 employees to the Copenhagen-based office and collaborate with new partners across the globe.

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