Green GL Passports For Boxship Trio

Marking a departure from the company's highly effective chartering strategy of the past 30 years, three self-owned newbuilds are being phased into Contship Containerlines' core Australasian trades during the 2002 second- half.

The 4,115-teu Contship Aurora class is technically distinguished by its considerable scope for perishable cargo, in that 1,300 plugs have been incorporated for integral type refrigerated containers. The trio ordered from Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering is replacing tonnage deployed on Contship's Eagle service between Europe, Australia and New Zealand, operated in partnership with P&O Nedlloyd's eastabout and Mediterranean strings, and will ultimately contribute to a new, weekly eastabout, roundthe- world schedule.

The dimensioning and engineering of the design for up to 1,300 reefer units equates to a potential, temperature-controlled cargo volume of around 2-million cu. ft., one of the biggest concentrations of reefer transport capacity at sea today. Underscoring Contship's long-term commitment to the business, the investment in the Contship Aurora, Contship Australis and Contship Borealis has been shaped not only by considerations of through-life economic performance and asset value, but also with due regard to rising expectations as to environmental protection.

A circumspect approach to the ecological properties of the design is reflected in each ship's construction to the parameters set by Germanischer Lloyd for its new Environmental Passport classification category.

The 'Green Passport' documents the environmental credentials of the ship through a certified compilation of all characteristics relevant to various national and international standards along with the basic requirements laid out in the society's Environmental Service System(GL-ESS) guidelines. The information is put together in such a way as to facilitate use by authorities and agencies for specific purposes such as processing applications for environmentally-governed fee reductions, or running checks on a vessel's environmental status.

There are compelling economic and competitive reasons for shipowners to meet or anticipate the most demanding environmental criteria through voluntary measures, such as the adoption of innovative ecological technologies on board. In addition, more and more shippers and industrial producers have an environmental agenda, which filters down to heightened expectations of environmental performance on the part of the transport service providers.

Against this backcloth, GL has developed its Environmental Service System. While this presently consists of the Environmental Passport, the intention is to extend the concept by introducing an Environmental Passport Information System(GL-EPIS).