Trafigura’s Rasmus Bach Nielsen takes helm of Sea Cargo Charter to ‘push green transition forward’

Trafigura’s Rasmus Bach Nielsen has been elected chairman of the Sea Cargo Charter, the Global Maritime Forum-backed framework for disclosing charterers’ alignment with decarbonisation targets.

Bach Nielsen, the trading giant’s global head of fuel decarbonisation, will replace Jan Dieleman, president of Cargill Ocean Transportation.

He said he is excited to continue the great work that is already being done by the Sea Cargo Charter signatories.

“The mindset regarding climate alignment has changed faster than we could have imagined in the past few years, and I look forward to continuing the work on global standardised and transparent emission reporting which will assist everyone in pushing shipping’s green transition forward,” he said.

Under the Sea Cargo Charter, the group publishes an annual disclosure report that benchmarks signatories’ climate impact against International Maritime Organization targets.

In its last report, 15% of bulk cargo was aligned with those goals. Its next report is due out in June.

Bach Nielsen was previously vice chair of the group, which has 14 signatories.

Dieleman had been chairman since 2021, but he is now chairman of the Global Maritime Forum itself.

“We have accomplished so much with the Sea Cargo Charter in the past few years,” the Cargill executive said.

“Establishing a common, global baseline to assess and disclose chartering activities’ climate alignment is a critical step in the decarbonisation efforts of the industry as it provides insights for continuous improvements and interventions.”

Cargill Ocean Transportation global operations director Eman Abdalla has been named vice chair. Claire Wright, who is general manager for commercial and strategy at Shell Shipping & Maritime, becomes treasurer.

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“The Sea Cargo Charter is a critical framework that brings transparency, standardisation and alignment to the shipping industry,” Abdalla said.

“I am honoured to be elected as vice chair and look forward to working tirelessly to expand our membership base across industries and geographies to achieve our goal of widespread adoption, making zero-carbon shipping a reality.”