Stena Lines strategic efforts within the sustainability area focusing on reducing the environmental footprint continue. Stena AB’s sustainability report for 2015, which has now been published, shows reduced fuel consumption and lowered emissions for the shipping companies within Stena. Stena Line exceeds the targets for reduction of emissions of sulphur and CO2. 

One of the largest changes for the shipping industry was conducted in the beginning of 2015 as new tough regulations on sulphur emissions was introduced for ferry operators in Northern Europe. This regulation means that the permitted emission levels of sulphur from vessels has been reduced from maximum 1 percent to 0,1 per cent within the SECA area from January 1st2015.

For Stena’s shipping companies, with 93 vessels operating all over the world, the new rules have resulted in a reduction of over 4 000 tonnes sulphur from 2014 to 2015, which equals a reduction of 15 per cent. For Stena Line’s 34 vessels operating in Europe, whereof 24 within the SECA area, the total emissions of sulphur has been reduced by 53 per cent. 

- Sustainability is a strategic priority for Stena Line. Focus on sustainability is not only important for Stena Line, but for the entire industry that needs long term sustainable fuel options to maintain competiveness. We are currently conducting several initiatives on finding alternative fuels within Stena. Our methanol project on Stena Germanica is one example. We are also looking at battery powered vessels, which is starting to become an interesting option for shipping, says Carl-Johan Hagman, CEO at Stena Line.

Stena’s shipping companies are since 2005 driving a dedicated program, called the Energy Saving Programme (ESP), to reduce the fuel consumption. The target is a reduction of 2,5 per cent annually and the result for 2015 was a reduction of 2,8 per cent. For Stena Line the efforts led to a reduction of fuel consumption of 4 per cent per nautical mile and a reduction of CO2 emissions of 2,5 per cent per nautical mile. 

- We have a broad scope and drive several different initiatives to reduce our fuel consumption within ESP. It covers everything from changing bulbs and propellers to enable our ferries to sail with reduced water resistance, to using digital solutions such as our Fuel Management System, where we collect a huge amount of data from the systems onboard our 34 ferries that is then used to optimize operations. The target is a reduction of CO2 emissions by 35% per nautical mile by 2030, says Erik Lewenhaupt.