BSR gains shippers dedicated to environmental leadership

BSR’s Clean Cargo Working Group (CCWG), the global business-to-business initiative made up of leading ocean cargo carriers and shippers, has announced some promising developments in the “greening” of our commercial fleets.

As noted in this column before, CCWG is dedicated to environmental performance improvement in marine container transport through measurement, evaluation, and reporting.

Last week the group welcomed a handful of new companies into its global membership, including: Hewlett-Packard (HP); Unifeeder, one of the largest European feeder carriers; and, three of the leading carriers in the world – China Shipping Container Lines, Evergreen Marine Corporation and Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC). The carrier membership of CCWG now represents over 85% of worldwide ocean container capacity (according to AlphaLiner top100).

“Joining the Clean Cargo Working Group aligns with HP’s company goal to reduce Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions by 20% by 2020 across our global supply chain. This partnership helps HP to drive GHG improvements for the roughly 80% of our shipment mix that goes by ocean, complementing our efforts addressing more energy-intensive transport modes” says Tony Prophet, SVP Operations at Hewlett-Packard. “We recognize CCWG as a superb source of data for the ocean going segment as well as a great place for engagement with peer companies to help us achieve our goals.”

According to Angie Farrag, Project Director of CCWG and Associate Director of BSR’s Transportation and Logistics practice, the growth in membership is attributable to the rising demand from global brands for high quality data and a collaborative forum to engage with peers and business partners, as they set “robust targets” to reduce their total logistics supply-chain emissions footprint.

“We are pleased that CCWG continues to deliver,” she adds.

Cheers to that.