Check out the news and sustainability sections of the Eastern Pacific Shipping website, and you can see why it is considered among the trailblazers of maritime decarbonisation.

The Singapore-based owner has invested billions of dollars in cutting-edge green ships and was one of the early adopters of LNG and ammonia dual-fuel vessels.

Eastern Pacific was a founding partner of Singapore’s Global Centre For Maritime Decarbonisation and has been involved in numerous other environmental, social and governance-related projects and future-fuel initiatives.

Green Power: Driving the transition
This article is part of the Green Power edition of the TW+ magazine, which shines a spotlight on the leaders, innovators and advocates shaping a greener future for the maritime sector.

Perhaps now it is time for its owner, Idan Ofer, to stand up and take a bow.

TW+ is not holding its breath that the billionaire shipowner will do that any time soon. Ofer, who Forbes estimates is worth more than $14bn, is notoriously media-shy, preferring to stay in the background while the deputies who head his many enterprises take the limelight.

Eastern Pacific is just one of the businesses of which the 68-year-old is the sole or majority shareholder. Holding companies such as Israel Corp and Kenon Holdings control companies involved in a wide array of business sectors, from liner shipping to chemicals, car manufacturing, energy production and green technology.

Ofer’s efforts to be an ESG trendsetter have at times put him at odds with some of the businesses under his control. Coming under fire for its activities in the oil sector, Israel Corp exited its shareholding in Oil Refineries, the operator of Israel’s largest refinery complex, in February 2023. Israel Corp did, however, retain its holdings in Israel Chemicals.

Idan and Batia Ofer launch maritime scholarship fund in Singapore
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Ofer and wife Batia are well known in philanthropic circles. Over the past 10 years, they are reported to have contributed more than $120m to charitable causes. Among their contributions have been £25m ($31m) for a new wing at London Business School and scholarships for Israeli and Palestinian students to attend Harvard Kennedy School in the US.

Shipping is included in their philanthropic efforts. Launched in 2021, the EPS Scholarship Fund presented by the Idan & Batia Ofer Family Foundation provides full and mid-programme academic scholarships to Singaporeans wanting to pursue a shipping career onshore or at sea.