Hapag-Lloyd: pandemic surplus leading to greener, more transparent shipping

Hapag-Lloyd is a German-owned, traditional, and quality-oriented shipping company that has grown in recent years through a number of mergers and is now ranked as the world’s fifth largest. APM Terminals Gothenburg spoke to Richard Borggreve, Senior Operations Manager at Hapag-Lloyd Sweden AB, to find out how they have invested in greener, more transparent shipping. 

The economy has been fluctuating sharply in recent years. How has it affected you? 

For a long time, container shipping has been struggling with losses or, at best, marginal profits. Then came the pandemic, which meant an upturn that nobody had seen coming. The profits made by the shipping companies during the pandemic were very much needed by the shipping industry. For us at Hapag-Lloyd, this meant that we were able to invest in expanding and modernising our fleet for greener shipping, as well as investing in digitalisation and increased transparency in the supply chain. We're now heading towards tough times again, with overcapacity and a significant drop in rates.  

Can you tell us more about your investments in promoting greener shipping? 

Through our new solution 'Ship Green', all our customers can easily book ship transport with biofuels on any route, at any time. We've since ordered seventeen new, state-of-the-art container vessels, of which twelve are ultra-large and equipped with 'dual-fuel' technology, which means that they can be operated with both traditional fuel and liquid natural gas (LNG). The first vessel in this series, the Berlin Express, will be commissioned on 23rd June.  

We've also made major investments to equip 86 of our existing vessels with energy-optimised propellers, which are expected to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by more than 10 percent. At the same time, all of our vessels have been supplied with antifouling paint to reduce resistance and thus minimise fuel consumption. 

How important are these climate initiatives for your customers? 

Traceability and climate efficiency are two aspects that are currently at the top of our customers’ lists of requirements, especially among large companies. Climate efficiency has become significantly more important in the last two years. To meet these demands throughout the supply chain, all of the players need to be working together. So, we're happy to be working with partners who share our objective, such as APM Terminals Gothenburg, which is investing heavily in green solutions and rail connections.  

You mentioned digitalisation as part of your strategy. Can you tell us more about how Hapag-Lloyd is working on digitalisation and increased transparency? 

We're currently working intensively on equipping our entire container fleet with GPS transmitters. This has previously only been done on reefer ships and we're proud to be at the forefront in this area. Transparency about container fleets is currently very limited within the industry. Shipping companies often have no information about where a container is after it leaves a terminal, which is worrying. With the new GPS transmitters, we have a full overview, better optimisation, and a significantly safer supply chain with greater control over dangerous goods and possibly incorrect declarations. In addition, our customers can track their goods in real time, which provides increased security.