Sustainable shipping not only drives our ocean transportation business, it’s also our core purpose. Every day and in everything we do, we’re working to make shipping safer, greener and more responsible - both across our operations and the wider maritime industry.
An inflection point for ocean shipping
Jan Dieleman, President of Cargill’s Ocean Transportation
At a time when many different types of experiments are hitting the water, Cargill Ocean Transportation is taking bold action to help lead the transformation across our industry. We are trialing new technologies and scaling biofuels while working closely with customers and other partners to pioneer broader ways forward.
We’re doing that because there are still big challenges in front of our industry. Decarbonizing ocean shipping will take several decades with everyone in the industry playing a role. But if we put in place solutions available now, while also continuing to work on next-generation technologies, fuels and vessel designs, together we can transform the industry.
Every day, we are:
- Collaborating with customers to help them understand their carbon footprints and find ways to reduce them
- Working with shipowners to upgrade vessels, making them more energy efficient
- Playing an active role in exploring the market mechanisms that will incentivize steady decarbonization without disrupting global trade flows
There is much work to do across the industry to achieve the sharp emissions declines needed in the 2030s to meet the goals of the International Maritime Organization (IMO). We have a long way to go, but we can see the horizon and how to get there.
Explore our progress
Decarbonizing shipping is not a linear process, and neither is Cargill’s approach toward these 2050 industry targets, with short-, medium-, and long-term goals.
Learn about Cargill’s decarbonization journey by exploring our Decarbonization Reports.
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Innovative decarbonization solutions: What we can do today
If we’re smart about working together across our industry, we can start reducing fuel usage, costs and carbon emissions right away.
Cargill is leading the way with innovative wind-assisted propulsion, green methanol fuel and sustainable biofuels.
Committed to building safe, responsible and sustainable supply chains
At Cargill, our Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) commitment is all about creating a more sustainable world. Every day, our teams around the world bring their passion and expertise to build supply chains that have a positive impact on people, our customers, and the planet we share. Read Cargill’s global ESG report to find out more.
Below are some highlights of how Cargill is helping create a more sustainable maritime industry.
Environmental
Aligning on climate goals
The Sea Cargo Charter (SCC) brings together the world’s largest charterers of cargo ships with the aim of reducing the climate impact of the shipping industry. Cargill played a leading role in its founding in 2020. The organization provides a transparent, shared disclosure framework, based on a linear decarbonization trajectory aligned with the IMO’s goal of reducing GHG shipping emissions to net zero by around 2050. Using the SCC’s published methodology, every year, members assess their fleets’ carbon intensity against the SCC benchmark trajectory.
Advancing a range of solutions
We invested in ZeroNorth, a provider of voyage, vessel, and bunker optimization software, to accelerate the use of digital solutions that decarbonize shipping. In 2023, nearly all of our time-chartered voyages used ZeroNorth’s technology, which is helping ZeroNorth refine its models and benefitting other users of the platform as well.
By working closely with shipowners and other key stakeholders, as well as investing in and piloting new technologies and fuels, we are building a pathway toward our long-term emissions reduction goals. This includes everything from installing energy-saving devices on our time-chartered vessels to experiments with wind-assisted propulsion to ordering ships that run on next-gen fuels like methanol.
Cutting emissions by parcelling
This year, we continued to make progress in optimizing emissions through parceling, which enables us to use bigger ships and maximize freight input. On parceling voyages we have measured up to 20% reduction in GHG emissions and a corresponding improvement in their Energy Efficiency Operational Indicator (EEOI). This is a measurement tool established by the International Maritime Organization.
Social
Taking people out of harm’s way
As part of our commitment to eliminating workplace hazards that can lead to injuries or fatalities, we are implementing changes such as using drones to conduct inspections, utilizing vertical drilling equipment to dislodge blocked materials, and adjusting product specifications to prevent moisture-induced blockages.
Setting safety standards onboard
Cargill is a longtime shareholder in RightShip, a maritime organization that focuses on safety, sustainability, and socially responsible practices across the supply chain. We are leading efforts with the RightShip coalition to advocate more broadly for policies that protect seafarers’ physical and mental wellbeing. These and other priorities are consistent with our support of standards set by the Global Maritime Forum.
Standardizing time on ships
Cargill Ocean Transportation, which charters a fleet of about 650-700 vessels at any given time staffed by more than 12,500 seafarers, does not employ the seafarers on the chartered ships. Nevertheless, out of concerns for their safety and to our commitment to human rights, Cargill instituted a practice of consistently tracking how long crews have been aboard our chartered ships and took steps to switch out crews whose time aboard was above the 11-month standard. As a founding signatory of the Neptune Declaration on Seafarer Wellbeing and Crew Change, Cargill is leading efforts that call for industry peers and governments to further address this pressing issue. We also support Human Rights at Sea, a non-profit organization with a global mission to end human rights abuses at sea.
Developing a diverse pipeline of talent
Cargill Ocean Transportation is committed to creating an inclusive and diverse work environment, including increasing gender representation across our early-career talent all the way through to leadership roles. Over the past decade, the percentage of women in leadership positions at Cargill Ocean Transportation has improved from 16% to 25%. Although these are a little higher than the industry benchmark, we still have a long way to go.
To achieve our goals in this area, we have put in place several initiatives and measures. It starts with attracting diverse talent through a revised recruitment process that mitigates unconscious bias and creates an equitable selection, interview and assessment process. We’re also building a diverse pipeline of early-career talent with our 18-month development program for trainees who have high learning potential and diverse backgrounds and experiences. We ensure pay equity through the Cargill pay equity process. And we have policies, guidelines and resources in place for flexible work arrangements, addressing unconscious bias on our teams and supporting employees’ psychological well-being.
Accessing mental health services
Alongside DNV Maritime and The Seafarers’ Charity, our Ocean Transport business, funded the development of a free-to-download app by Maritime welfare charity the Mission to Seafarers (MtS). The Happy at Sea app makes it easier for seafarers to access services to improve their welfare and mental health, especially whilst at sea.
According to the Q1 2023 results of the happiness index, access to welfare services was identified as one of the main areas of concern for seafarers. The new app has been designed to address this issue. It includes a low file size for an easier download experience during poor connection at sea, and seafarers who use the app will be able to pre-order services such as a port welfare officer visit and private counselling sessions from trained professionals.