By
Elly Yates-Roberts |
Sweden-based Stena Line is sailing towards sustainable shipping, having reached new milestones with artificial intelligence (AI)-assisted vessels, battery propulsion, reduced rates of single-use plastics and a higher number of female leaders.
Stena Line has now released its third sustainability review A Sustainable Journey which describes the operator’s initiatives, improvements and challenges around the topic.
“With size comes responsibility and our ambition is to improve our operations every year to become a leader in sustainable shipping,” said Niclas Mårtensson, CEO of Stena Line. “The past year we have had exciting developments pairing AI with the know-how of our experienced employees onboard as well as increased focus on electrification. We have continued our efforts within crew and passenger safety as well as launching a new initiative for more diversity in our operations.
“This is a very exciting time for our company and I’m proud that Stena Line continues to help shape the industry for European short-sea transportation.”
Stena Line’s sustainability strategy is divided into five areas linked to the United Nation Global Goals for sustainable development. To improve equality and inclusion, Stena Line has increased its number of female leaders by 3% in just one year.
The firm has been particularly successful in meeting clean energy goals after equipping Stena Scandinavica with AI technology to lower emissions; launching a first battery hybrid project on Stena Jutlandica; and connecting its 14th ship to green shoreside electricity in Norway’s Port of Oslo. As a result of this, over a third of the fleet is now using shore power.
“We have more than 5,500 employees who all make big and small contributions towards our sustainability targets and it’s great to see that we are making good progress in many areas while maintaining a safe and efficient operation,” said Erik Lewenhaupt, head of Sustainability at Stena Line. “Our industry has a big challenge with our fossil dependence and our total carbon emissions increased in line with freight volumes, so we have more to do in this area. The initiatives started within electrification are relatively new to our industry but extremely important going forward as we gradually move to low-carbon operations.”