Climate change is the most pressing environmental challenge facing our world, and ocean carriers have a responsibility to significantly reduce our impact on climate change by lowering our greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.
To this end, Matson is nearing the completion of our Hawaii fleet renewal program, which started in 2013. Under this program, we commissioned four new state-of-the-art vessels with multiple environmental features designed to help reduce GHG emissions, allowing us to retire the last of our steamships.
In addition to the short-term goals described above, Matson has established the following medium- and long-term goals that reflect the company’s commitment and contribution to helping the world decarbonize and limit climate change:
- Reduce Scope 1 GHG emissions from our fleet by 40 percent by 2030, using 2016 (the first full year following our acquisition of Horizon Lines’ Alaska operations) as a baseline by improving fleet and operational efficiency.
- Achieve net zero Scope 1 GHG emissions from our fleet by 2050. This is a particularly ambitious goal. Currently, there are no commercially available carbon-neutral fuels for use on ocean-going container ships, nor the engine technologies to use such fuels or deliver them to terminals.
As a member of the World Shipping Council, the Chamber of Shipping of America, and the Blue Sky Maritime Coalition, Matson supports efforts to create an industry-funded research and development program to accelerate zero-carbon fuels and technologies. While transformative technology develops, Matson continues to focus on its fleet renewal programs and modernizing terminal operations to improve efficiency.