ship.energy

Matson reports 17% increase in Scope 1 emissions following year of ‘unprecedented demand’

American shipping company Matson has reported a 17% increase in its Scope 1 emissions for 2021 following ‘unprecedented demand for maritime transportation and logistics services’.

In the 2021 edition of its Sustainability Report released this month, Honolulu-headquartered Matson cited ‘a number of factors’ for the increase, which saw Scope 1 emissions rise from 1 million tonnes in 2020 to 1.2 million tonnes in 2021. Amongst the reasons given were the launch of its CCX (China-California Express) service in June 2021 and additional sailings from China. Additionally, Matson noted that every vessel in its fleet was actively deployed in 2021, including all of its reserve vessels.

‘As a result, Matson-owned vessels saw the equivalent of over 600 more operating days in 2021, an increase in approximately 15% from the prior year,’ the company said. ‘The higher rate of activity increased overall energy use and emissions measured on an absolute basis. We also saw a slight increase in Scope 1 emissions from the first-time inclusion of emissions from shoreside operations, which account for 2% of our Scope 1 emissions.’

Despite the increase in Scope 1 emissions, Matson said it remained committed to achieving its goal of reducing Scope 1 emissions by 40% by 2030 using 2016 as a baseline.

‘We have developed a detailed roadmap to reach this goal that began with the investment of more than $1 billion in four new state-of-the-art vessels with multiple environmental features as part of our Hawaii fleet renewal program,’ said Matson.

As previously reported, last month, Matson and MAN Energy Solutions signed a contract for the retrofit of the main engine aboard the former’s 2018-built Daniel K. Inouye containership to dual fuel. The company is also planning to start work on converting the Manukai to operate on LNG once work on the Daniel K. Inouye is completed.

Image: Shutterstock

Rhys Berry