Maersk Line official wants shipping to 'focus on' environment

A senior Maersk Line official has repeated calls for the shipping industry to reduce ship-generated pollution.

We need to focus on the environmental impact of shipping, said Jesper Praestensgaard, chief executive of Maersk Line Asia Pacific,

We have to engage in this discussion because if we keep our heads down and do not show that we are improving, legislators will go in and make new rules that will hurt the business and do nothing to improve the situation, he said in comments quoted by the maritime news service TradeWinds.

He said ports in the United States were implementing good environmental policies, including cold ironing, but needed to do more to improve efficiency.

If ports were more efficient, we could save a lot more fuel because there would be no need to race across the ocean only to spend three days in port, claimed Praestensgaard.

Faster port turnarounds would mean that we could slow down the ships and still run the services using the same number of ships.

Maersk Line, the world's leading container shipping company, has been a strong backer of slow steaming to cut bunker consumption and reduce emissions.

In May, it introduced slower sailing speeds on one of its Europe and Middle East services.

Just a small reduction in speed has a huge impact on fuel consumption, Praestensgaard told TradeWinds.

He also called for ship design to be continually improved in order to maximise fuel efficiency.