Case study: How Evergreen Marine makes sure that its new container ships are environmentally friendly and energy efficient
As one of the leading shipping lines in the world, with a service network that connects five continents through 315 business locations in 114 countries and a fleet of approximately 200 container ships with 1 million TEU of cargo space, Evergreen Marine incorporates environmental protection and energy-saving in the design and construction of its new ships, committed to ship management practices that reduce pollution at sea, to the air or on land.
This case study is based on the 2014 Corporate Social Responsibility Report by Evergreen Marine published on the Global Reporting Initiative Sustainability Disclosure Database that can be found at this link. Through all case studies we aim to demonstrate that CSR/ sustainability reporting done responsibly is achieved by identifying a company’s most important impacts on the environment and stakeholders and by measuring, managing and changing.
When it comes to the design and construction of its new ships Evergreen Marine not only considers future operating costs, but also environmental protection and energy-saving. These are incorporated into planning and design at the start of construction, so that new ships – such as the new L-type container ships built for Evergreen Marine in 2014 – will deliver exceptional energy-saving and environmental protection performance when they eventually enter service. After measuring and setting targets, Evergreen Marine took action to voluntarily apply for Green Passport certification of new ships, reduce oil spill risk, comply with NOx Tier III emission regulations, prevent air pollution through Alternative Maritime Power (AMP), prevent water pollution through ballast water treatment equipment and gray water holding tanks and, also, use a variety of energy-saving designs.
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With this case study you will see:
- Which are the most important impacts (material issues) Evergreen Marine has identified;
- How Evergreen Marine proceeded with stakeholder engagement, and
- What actions were taken by Evergreen Marine to make sure that its new container ships are environmentally friendly and energy efficient
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What are the material issues the company has identified?
In its 2014 Corporate Social Responsibility Report Evergreen Marine identified a range of material issues, such as ethics, morality and ethical management, domestic and foreign compliance, competition compliance and response, ship and equipment maintenance/upgrades, improving competitiveness. Among these, making sure that its new container ships are environmentally friendly and energy efficient stands out as a key material issue for Evergreen Marine, in view of its commitment to ship management practices that reduce pollution at sea, to the air or on land.
Stakeholder engagement in accordance with the GRI Standards
The Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) defines the Principle of Stakeholder Inclusiveness when identifying material issues (or a company’s most important impacts) as follows:
Stakeholders must be consulted in the process of identifying a company’s most important impacts and their reasonable expectations and interests must be taken into account. This is an important cornerstone for CSR / sustainability reporting done responsibly.
Key stakeholder groups Evergreen Marine engages with:
| Stakeholder Group | Method of engagement |
| Employees | · Internal company bulletins · Regular and ad hoc meetings · Education and training · E-mail, telephone, in writing |
| Government Agencies
| · E-mail, telephone · Missive, meeting, visit · Education and training, symposiums |
| Non-Government Organizations | · E-mail, telephone · Missive, meeting, symposium, visit |
| Suppliers
| · E-mail, telephone, work meeting · Labor safety organization meeting · Supplier evaluation |
| Customers | · E-mail, telephone · Missive, meeting, visit · Information on corporate website |
| Shareholders | · Visit, investor service area on the corporate website |
| Communities | · Telephone, visit |
How stakeholder engagement was made to identify material issues
To communicate with stakeholders in a timely manner, learn what important issues are of concern to stakeholders so they can be incorporated into the corporate sustainable development strategy and establish a mechanism for unobstructed communication and feedback, Evergreen Marine has adopted a rigorous approach based on the methodologies defined in GRI 4.0 and AA1000 as standard. This ensures that stakeholders communications conform to the three principles of Inclusivity, Materiality and Responsiveness. Under these principles, the communication process involves the identification of stakeholders, the channels of communication, the issues of concern and materiality analysis of such issues. The process and conclusion provides Evergreen Marine with important information in sustainable development as well.
Stakeholders are internal and external groups or individuals that have an influence on Evergreen Marine or are influenced by it. To fulfill Evergreen Marine’s stakeholders commitment and respect their rights, the competent departments within Evergreen Marine have used the appropriate channels to set up a platform for stakeholders communication. Positive relations are maintained by responding in a suitable manner to the issues of concern to stakeholders. Evergreen Marine engages with stakeholders through the authoring of the CSR report and the operation of the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Committee.
The identification of stakeholders, their issues of concern, the verification of issues and their materiality analysis all follow a pre-defined procedure as shown below:
- Identify each unit’s stakeholders and communication channels
- Investigate and compile the issues of concern
- CSR team compiles stakeholder types and issues of concern
- Report and verify stakeholders and issues of concern
- Sort issues of concern by importance
- Include material issues in CSR indicator analysis and data collection
The CSR Committee directs each unit to identify their respective stakeholders through systemic analysis. The stakeholders of each unit are then sorted in different categories. The results of internal identification and discussions were reviewed by the CSR Committee. Employees, the government, non-government organizations, suppliers, customers, shareholders/investors and communities were ultimately identified as stakeholders important to Evergreen Marine.
Positive stakeholders communication and interaction plays an important role in Evergreen Marine’s operations. By using a variety of different communication channels, Evergreen Marine hopes to collect and effectively respond to the precious opinions of its stakeholders. The form of communication varies due to the diversity of stakeholders. There are both routine and extraordinary channels. The issues of concern also vary as well.
Once the list of stakeholders was confirmed, internal departmental meetings were convened to compile the issues of concern collected through routine communication channels as well as screen and compile important information from 2014.
What actions were taken by Evergreen Marine to make sure that its new container ships are environmentally friendly and energy efficient?
In its 2014 Corporate Social Responsibility Report Evergreen Marine set the following targets for making sure that its new container ships are environmentally friendly and energy efficient, based on the company’s approach to materiality – on taking action on what matters, where it matters:
- Voluntarily applying for Green Passport certification
Though not statutorily required, Evergreen Marine took its social responsibility on marine environmental protection into account and voluntarily applied for Green Passport certification of new ships in order to comply with future international conventions on ship recycling.
- Reducing oil spill risk
The L-type container ship is designed with a double-skinned hull and internal fuel oil tanks to reduce the risk of fuel oil tanks being ruptured during collisions and causing an oil spill. The airspace stern tube sealing system prevents lubricant leaking from the stern tube to pollute the seawater.
- Complying with NOx Tier III emission regulations
In the L-type container ship space has been reserved in the engineering section so that equipment can be installed in the future to comply with the strict NOx Tier III emission regulations. When nitrous oxides (NOx) produced by the combustion process are released into the atmosphere they not only cause photochemical smog in urban areas but also have a serious impact on human respiratory function. NOx is also readily water-soluble so it leads to acid rain. Acid rain seeping into the soil results in soil acidification, disrupting agricultural production. International NOx emissions regulations are becoming increasingly stringent. NOx Tier III requires the NOx emissions to be kept below 3.4g/kW. From January 1, 2016, ships sailing in Emission Control Areas (ECA) would be required to keep their NOx emissions within Tier III standards. Current NOx ECAs include North America and the US Caribbean. The L-type container ship was therefore designed from the start to provide sufficient space in the engineering section for the future installation of equipment required for compliance with NOx Tier III emission regulations.
- Preventing air pollution through Alternative Maritime Power (AMP)
The U.S. state of California has instituted the so-called Cold Iron Policy in recent years. Once a ship docks in a Californian port, all of the ship’s internal combustion engines including the shipboard generator must be shut down. This is to prevent waste heat and smog produced by combustion from impacting the air quality and visibility in and around the port. Once a ship has docked, the shipboard generator must be shut down. Shipboard power is then provided from the shore. The L-type container ship is equipped with Alternative Maritime Power (AMP). If ports outside of California also install shore power facilities in the future, the L-type can then connect to shore power when it docks at these ports so that smoke from the ship’s engines and generators doesn’t impact on local air quality.
- Preventing water pollution through ballast water treatment equipment and gray water holding tanks
Ballast Water Treatment Plant: When a ship is empty or not carrying a heavy enough load, a certain amount of seawater is taken onboard to maintain stability. This is known as “ballast water”. When a ship enters port, excess ballast water is discharged to facilitate loading. The IMO (International Maritime Organization) estimated that around 3 ~ 5 billion tons of seawater are carried from port to port every year. The discharge of this ballast water into the port may harm native species or introduce harmful pathogens that impact on the ecological environment of another region. While no international convention currently requires the installation of ballast water treatment equipment, such equipment is now voluntarily installed on all new L-type ships to conform to conventions.
Gray water holding tank (sewage holding tank): Environment awareness has gained increasing importance in recent years. Nations are now strengthening the protection of their ports as well. Brazil in South America was among the first to impose restrictions on the discharge of gray water in port by commercial shipping. The U.S. East Coast is now beginning to impose such restrictions as well. While there is no international convention on the installation of gray water holding tanks as yet, this was included in the design of the Evergreen L-type.
- Using a variety of energy-saving designs
[tweetthis]The L-type container ship uses a variety of energy-saving designs[/tweetthis] certified by classification societies as being already compliant with the IMO EEDI 2020 ship efficiency standard:
Optimized hull design: The hulls of Evergreen container ships have adopted the optimized hull design treatment that keeps drag to a minimum, increasing hull efficiency and reducing fuel consumption.
Use of HT47 (Higher Tensile Steel): The L-type makes use of new high tensile-strength steel to achieve the same level of structural strength for less weight of steel. The reduction in hull weight reduces oil consumption, improving energy efficiency and reducing carbon emissions. It is around 2,000 tons lighter than equivalent 8,000 TEU container ships.
Rudder Bulb design: The rudder bulb design reduces drag from following wake to achieve an energy saving of around 2%.
Energy-saving bulbous bow: The energy-saving bulbous bow design is designed to help counter the degradation in fuel efficiency when the ship deviates from its design speed and draught. This design improves energy efficiency by around 12 ~ 21% at operating speeds and draughts.
Electronically controlled engine: The electronically controlled engine can be run at a lower speed and consume less fuel than conventional engines, improving energy efficiency and reducing emissions.
Variable frequency control seawater pump: The seawater pump on the L-type features variable frequency control to reduce ship power consumption, improving energy efficiency and reducing emissions.
Which GRI indicators/Standards have been addressed?
The GRI indicators/Standards addressed in this case are:
1) G4-EN11: Operational sites owned, leased, managed in, or adjacent to, protected areas and areas of high biodiversity value outside protected areas – the updated GRI Standard is: Disclosure 304-1 Operational sites owned, leased, managed in, or adjacent to, protected areas and areas of high biodiversity value outside protected areas
2) G4-EN12: Description of significant impacts of activities, products, and services on biodiversity in protected areas and areas of high biodiversity value outside protected areas – the updated GRI Standard is: Disclosure 304-2 Significant impacts of activities, products, and services on biodiversity
3) G4-EN26: Identity, size, protected status, and biodiversity value of water bodies and related habitats significantly affected by the organization’s discharges of water and runoff – the updated GRI Standard is: Disclosure 306-5 Water bodies affected by water discharges and/or runoff
4) G4-EN27: Extent of impact mitigation of environmental impacts of products and services
References:
1) This case study is based on published information by Evergreen Marine, located at the link below. For the sake of readability, we did not use brackets or ellipses. However, we made sure that the extra or missing words did not change the report’s meaning. If you would like to quote these written sources from the original, please revert to the original on the Global Reporting Initiative’s Sustainability Disclosure Database at the link:
http://database.globalreporting.org/
2) http://www.fbrh.co.uk/en/global-reporting-initiative-gri-g4-guidelines-download-page
3) https://g4.globalreporting.org/Pages/default.aspx
4) https://www.globalreporting.org/standards/gri-standards-download-center/
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