Project Overview

In January 2013, the SSI launched a dedicated website: www.ssi2040.org.

Shipping leaders from around the world have joined forces in an ambitious coalition called the Sustainable Shipping Initiative (SSI) which is taking practical steps to tackle some of the sector’s greatest opportunities and challenges. The group is working to achieve a vision of a shipping industry that is both profitable and sustainable by 2040.

As much as 90 per cent of world trade is carried by the global shipping industry, and more than two million people work in shipping across the world. It is a vital engine of global trade, connecting communities and providing the world’s poorest nations with access to markets and resources.

The SSI is a four-stage initiative designed to help the industry make long-term plans for future success. It is facilitated by Forum for the Future, the global sustainability non-profit. The cross-industry group represents ship owners and charterers, shipbuilders, engineers and service providers, banking, insurance, and classification societies, as well as NGO World Wildlife Fund. More than 19 global shipping companies are already involved in the cross-industry coalition, including key industry players such as Maersk Line, Cargill, Lloyd’s Register, DNV, Wärtsilä and Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering (DSME).

It is the first time the shipping industry has joined forces on such a cooperative global scale to tackle major sustainable issues. The ultimate goal is to show that collaborative action is possible, and to mobilise support across the industry, demonstrating that shipping can contribute to – and thrive in – a sustainable future.

In May 2011, the SSI published a Case for Action which addressed key challenges which today’s shipping industry faces, such as a potential contraction in world trade, rapid changes in routes and markets, rising fuel costs, oversupply of vessels with obsolete technology, restricted investment in new technologies and growing scrutiny of the industry’s social and environmental performance.

In October 2011, the SSI’s members publically signed into action their collective Vision for 2040, setting out their vision and aspirations for how the industry needs to respond to the challenges addressed in the Case for Action – backed up by specific commitments to action. The key areas for action include becoming a more trusted and responsible partner in communities in which shipping operates; providing a safe, healthy, secure and rewarding work environment; diversifying the industry’s energy mix and ensuring greater resource efficiency to make dramatic reductions in greenhouse gas intensity and ensuring responsible governance of oceans; promoting greater transparency and accountability at corporate and industry levels; and enabling the financing and large scale uptake of technological and operational innovations that will lead to a step-change in the industry’s performance on sustainability.

In April 2012, at Singapore Maritime Week, the SSI announced details of four initial workstreams, aimed at implementing its Vision for 2040. They address the areas where collective action has the greatest potential to accelerate change and are driven by SSI members.

In September 2013, at an industry event in Singapore, the SSI will launch its practical outputs of the workstreams, report on progress against the 2040 Vision and announce future plans for 2013-14. Results are expected to include at least one new financial model that will reward sustainable performance, making it more accessible; completed pilots and have developed an understanding of how the system could be scaled up to deliver closed loop ship recycling; a clear guide to industry standards with recommended approaches to accelerate uptake; and robust business cases on mixed energy technology, providing the information companies need to adopt already existing eco-efficient technologies and techniques.

In 2014 and beyond, we anticipate that the SSI will continue to develop and trial new solutions to tackling the megatrends facing the shipping industry to build to a robust and profitable industry with a strong record of social and environmental responsibility.

Find out more at www.ssi2040.org.