Raising awareness of climate neutrality in shipping and ocean health – this is the common goal of Kuehne+Nagel, Hapag-Lloyd, CMA CGM and MSC. Committed to marine protection and sustainable shipping, they all support the yacht racing Team Malizia that has started its latest challenge on November 8: the Vendée Globe 2020, the world’s toughest regatta.

Taking part for the first time, the “Seaexplorer – Yacht Club de Monaco” is led by the German world-class skipper Boris Herrmann. On all of its voyages, including the current regatta, the professional racing team works together with scientists and climate institutes to better understand the role the oceans play for the world’s climate.

The Seaexplorer carries the message “A Race We Must Win”, on her sails – a call to protect the environment in a race against time. During the Vendée Globe, Boris Herrmann collects data on water temperatures, salt levels as well as pH and CO2 levels. The data will help study the impact of climate change on the oceans. As Boris Herrmann creates transparency for science, the partners Hapag-Lloyd, Kuehne+Nagel, CMA CGM and MSC create transparency on the CO2 emissions of ocean shipping.

“Hapag-Lloyd is committed to a cleaner future for our industry”, says Rolf Habben-Jansen, Chief Executive Officer of Hapag-Lloyd AG. “We have taken significant steps over the last years to improve our own environmental footprint and have succeeded in reducing our CO2 emissions per TEU/kilometer by more than 50 percent since 2008. We believe that sustainability is a marathon rather than a 100-meter sprint. Given this fact, the issue will remain on our strategic agenda for the long term and be given high priority – also and especially in 2020, which has been an unusual year for all of us.”