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Arild B Iversen, CEO of Wallenius Wilhelmsen Logistics (WWL) has urged the maritime industry to cooperate in minimizing its ecological footprint.

Speaking at the bi-annual 2008 Lloyds List Roro Exhibition and Conference in Gothenburg, Iversen said the speed to carry goods to market cannot be sustained as the primary performance indicator if we are to demonstrate good environmental principles.

Delivering the speech on the opening day of the conference, Iversen ponted out that a small reduction in vessel speed would lead to a significant reduction in ship emissions.

"A two knots speed reduction from Asia to Europe would cut CO2 emissions per transported unit from 1163 kgs per car to 919 kgs per car, a cut of 21 per cent, creating a significantly positive impact on the environment. Although voyage times would increase by four days, fuel consumption would drop by 17 per cent," said Iversen.

He urged RoRo and vehicle carrying shipping lines to have open discussions with their customers to find out whether they are prepared to accept the lengthier voyage times in return for playing their part in conserving and preserving the maritime environment.

Iversen added that a change in voyage times would only become an option when the tonnage capacity in the RoRo trades improved. As a response to the under tonnage problem Iversen reported that WWL had 25 eco-friendly ships due to enter service within the next four years.

He also reasoned that the key to intelligent ocean transport was closer customer cooperation and smarter vessels where ships are designed for fuel efficiency, greater cargo flexibility and a lower environmental footprint, rather than outright speed.

"Flexibility and focus are becoming the hallmarks of developing cost efficient factory-to-dealer logistics solutions. We need to have dialog with customers, politicians, shipbuilders, ports and other stakeholders to explore how we together can minimize the ecological footprint of our industry. We should also explore new performance measurements that take the environment into account and not just time from port-to-port," Iversen said.

He pointed out that advanced supply chain management would allow for optimal and cost efficient transport and that good hub and spoke systems were central to increasing efficiency.

In the conclusion to his speech, Iversen said "It is our ambition to remain an environmental forerunner by reducing fuel consumption, cutting emissions and minimising the impact of the release of ballast water into the oceans.

"We are working with the WWF, the global environment organisation, to develop a global maritime transport policy which will create a new groundbreaking framework for sustainable shipping covering such aspects as vessel design, fuel quality, approved sailing routes, emissions into air and sea, reduction in noise pollution, vessel recycling and better reporting on environmental matters".