Trading giant Trafigura is making good progress on cutting shipping emissions as it continues to back ammonia as a clean fuel.
The Swiss chartering and shipowning group revealed a 19% reduction in greenhouse gas output from the fleet of tankers, bulkers and gas carriers in its 2023 sustainability report on Tuesday.
This is measured against the 2019 baseline from the International Maritime Organization.
Trafigura owns 30 vessels and has nearly 360 ships under management.
The reduction includes Scope 1 emissions from its owned fleet and Scope 3 output from the chartered vessels.
Alongside the shipping cuts, the company logged a 30% reduction in overall Scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gas emissions to 2.246 mtCO2e last year, compared to 2020.
“I’m pleased to present this report outlining the progress we continue to make in ensuring our business is able to make a sustained contribution to the responsible supply of vital commodities to power and build the world,” said chief executive Jeremy Weir.
He said shipping had made “good progress towards our 2030 targeted reduction of 25%, but it is important to note that annual carbon intensity may be significantly impacted by market conditions in any particular year”.
Trafigura is continuing to invest in clean technologies such as ammonia-fuelled shipping engines.
“We believe that ammonia will become an important, low-carbon part of the fuel mix and we are co-sponsoring MAN Energy Solutions’ development of ammonia marine engines,” the shipowner said.
Are ammonia-fuelled vessels coming?
“We intend to have at least six zero-emission, green ammonia-fuelled vessels within our fleet by 2030 if this becomes technically feasible,” it added.
Trafigura has previously said that six ammonia carriers will be converted to use zero-emission fuels as the primary propulsion source by 2030.
“As one of the world’s largest charterers of vessels, responsible for more than 5,000 voyages a year…we have led the commodity industry in calling for a global price on carbon for shipping, an important driver for change,” the company said.
Plans to decarbonise shipping further include investing in and maintaining a modern fleet equipped with the best available technology, it added.
The group has been trialling several new fuels on the owned and chartered vessels, including co-sponsoring the development of alternative bunkers and investing in innovative onboard carbon capture technology.
“We are one of the few operators to have tested alternative shipping fuels including LNG, methanol, LPG and biofuels on our controlled vessels,” Trafigura added.
The company is also putting money into silicone hull coating, wake-equalising ducts, ultrasonic propeller antifouling technology and continuous underwater hull cleaning and propeller polishing.
