The ships that try to avoid the continuous attacks by Houthi rebels in the Red Sea area are emitting millions of additional tons of carbon, making it difficult for companies that use maritime transport to reduce pollution in their supply chains.
Instead of passing through Egypt’s Suez Canal, since mid-December hundreds of ships sail around the Cape of Good Hope from South Africa, a detour that adds at least a week to the trip between southern Asia and northern Europe.
The additional fuel burned has caused approximately 13.6 million additional tons of CO2 emissions in the last four months, which is equivalent to the pollution of about 9 million cars during that same period, according to a report by the consulting firm INVERTO, a subsidiary of the Boston Consulting Group.
“The additional emissions resulting from this crisis will increase the carbon footprint of companies, making it very difficult to achieve your net zero goals”said Sushank Agarwal, CEO of the company. “To meet these targets, companies will need to reduce emissions elsewhere in their supply chains or invest in more carbon offsetting initiatives; Both of these things can be very expensive.”
While significant, the additional emissions are a fraction of what the shipping industry, which represents 80 percent of world trade is released into the atmosphere each year. The sector’s global regulator, the International Maritime Organization, is working on the world’s first global carbon taxalthough it will not come into effect until 2027. Meanwhile, the planet continues to warm.
A separate report from Xeneta, an Oslo-based cargo analytics company, focuses specifically on container shipping and showed that carbon emissions sailing from Asia to the Mediterranean increased 63 percent last quarter compared to the last three months of 2023.
The marine benchmark carbon emissions index and Xeneta, an indicator of carbon emissions per tonne of cargo transported along the world’s 13 major trade routes, reached its highest level in the first quarter in records dating back to 2018.
Increase the speed of ships
“Ships also travel at higher speeds in an attempt to gain time due to longer distanceswhich again results in greater carbon burning,” said Emily Stausbøll, market analyst at Xeneta.
According to data from Clarkson Research Services Ltd., the average speed of the world’s largest container ships jumped above 16 knots after attacks intensified in it Red Sea and massive shipping diversions began in mid-December, compared to speeds of less than 15 knots earlier that month.
The 9 million car estimate cited by INVERTO is based on an estimate by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for a typical passenger vehicle. Using an estimate of emissions from the International Energy Agency for one year, the 13.6 million tons of CO2 are equivalent to that of 13.6 million passenger vehicles over four months, according to the report.
