Towards a greener New Year 

Once again, a year is coming to an end and at this point we usually tend to reflect on how our expectations for the year have realized. Regardless of what we expected, I guess, the past year has offered both successes and failures. The conditions were known to be uncertain with the ongoing war in Ukraine, steep inflation, and a setback in the economy in general. However, we can see that our societies and structures are very resilient and daily business has mostly gone on as usual, and thus we should assume and trust the same will apply also going forward.

For our team the year has once again been a busy one, and this we are very grateful for. We are privileged to have such great and loyal customers for both dry-bulk and project chartering.  We, as a service provider, are highly dependent on our customers’ success and want to do our part to keep the supply chains working as smoothly as possible. Of course, there have been challenges and there will certainly be challenges in the future as well. However, most challenges can be solved with good will, mutual flexibility, and good communication between people. In the end, shipping is very much a People business. Therefore, I also want to encourage you to give us response and suggestions on how we should develop our business and service in the coming years.

The green transition is and will remain a huge challenge to almost every industry. In shipping, the goal is set to reach carbon neutrality no later than 2050. Since we are soon about to welcome the year 2024, there is only a generation left to go, which means that the transition already needs to be in full swing now, and there is no time for a wait and see strategy. There are several promising new fuels and technologies under development, which hopefully can provide alternatives to the fossils in the future but for many reasons they are not yet available for wider commercial use.

Our persistent work to develop our own biofuel for our vessels, that has been ongoing for decades, has started to pay off. Since the beginning of the year, we have regularly bunkered our waste-based biofuel in our vessels that are adapted for this purpose. This fuel can be considered almost carbon free as the CO2 reduction compared to fossil fuel according to calculations made by external auditor is 97,7%.  Based on this fuel and related ship technology, we are ready to set ourselves the goal of achieving carbon neutrality about a decade before the set deadline.

The ultimate purpose is that the emission reductions shall benefit our customers, helping them reach their own targets on their path towards a lower carbon footprint. The EcoVoy contract is a very concrete and transparent tool for choosing almost carbon neutral transports and it is available today. As there are, for the time being, no clear regulations regarding how to calculate emission savings, we are keen that our concept shall withstand critical scrutiny. Therefor we have engaged external and independent institutions to validate and secure the entire chain starting from the fuel production and ending with the emission saving report provided to the customer.  Our New Year’s promise for 2024 is that we will continue our efforts to lower our emissions, which we trust will be for the benefit of our customers both in the short and the long run.

On behalf of the entire Meriaura Team I wish you a Peaceful Christmas time and an exciting New Year!

Beppe Rosin
Managing Director