Meriaura’s second Sustainability report was published in June. Interest in corporate responsibility has risen in recent years, which is good. Trends tend to strengthen at times and weaken at times, usually to make room for another intensifying trend. Working in a persistent, determined and goal-oriented way, constantly striving for improvement even when unforeseen changes occur in the operating environment, is a requirement for doing responsible business. Mitigating climate change requires action from the entire value chain from the raw material supplier to the final consumer. As a service provider, we are aware of our own responsibilities and are constantly working to reduce the environmental impact of maritime transport. The market demand for environmentally friendly solutions has clearly increased recently, which also makes our work more meaningful.
The biggest source of emissions in our operations is bunker. We therefore closely monitor ship emissions and relate them to the transportation work performed. We have set ourselves a goal of reducing CO2 emissions per tonne of cargo transported per nautical mile, or “tonne-mile” for short, by 4 percent annually for the next 5 years. Achieving this goal will require further improvements in operational efficiency, which in turn will require seamless collaboration with customers and other stakeholders. The benefits achieved by increasing operational efficiency require little financial sacrifice. However, our goals are higher and achieving them will require investments, e.g. in fleet, fuel production and digitization.
When Russia invaded Ukraine many dimensions of responsibility materialized as many of the things we took for granted, changed. To guarantee the safety of the seafarers, we immediately decided to stop all traffic to Russian ports and the Ukrainians working on our ships and their close relatives were offered the opportunity to stay temporarily in Finland. As a Finnish shipping company, we have a significant responsibility to ensure security of supply in a crisis situation, and we consider it important that we continue to be able to employ officers and crew who know the local conditions on our ships. Reducing environmental damage is an essential part of our corporate culture and a significant motivating factor for our personnel. Through it, we will continue our consistent work to develop carbon-neutral shipping – regardless of economic conditions and trends.
Beppe Rosin,
Managing Director
