With the shipping industry facing an increased amount of scrutiny in regard to its environmental practices, V.Group has committed to adopting and promoting industry standards and best practices to establish itself as a leader in environmental practices for ship management and marine services, both at sea and on shore.

We believe that the most effective way of addressing the environmental challenges, and building a more efficient industry, is by working together across the industry with stakeholders, organisations and governments to implement solutions that work in practice.

Therefore, we, at V.Group and Oceanic Catering, have committed to join IMPA SAVE. IMPA SAVE Council for Maritime Supply Chain Sustainability, is a group of individuals representing global ship owners and maritime suppliers who are responding to the United Nations’ universal call for action to promote prosperity while protecting the environment.

Through leveraging its network and collective action, IMPA SAVE will set goals that can be achieved in the marine industry to support the UN 2030 agenda, primarily concentrating on carbon reduction, environmental protection and preservation and reducing consumption of resources.

Milestone One – Getting to Zero: reducing the use of plastic drinking water bottles from the World’s fleet by 2025.

Its first project focuses on reducing the use of plastic drinking water bottles by 2025. Single-use plastic is a significant threat to life in the ocean and the planet as a whole. The shipping industry has, over the last few decades, been proactive in improving its environmental performance by implementing regulations about practices. However, challenges are still far from being acted upon.

In line with V.Group and Oceanic Catering’s latest commitment to drive towards eliminating single-use plastics, and our goal of ZERO pollution from plastic waste at sea and continuously minimising the generation of shipboard waste, joining IMPA SAVE reinforces our commitment to collaborate across the industry for the preservation of the marine environment.

Already last year, V.Group and Oceanic Catering launched our ‘Single-Use Plastic Charter’, demonstrating our commitment to eliminating the use of non-essential single-use plastics on board our customers’ vessels and within all of our offices.

To achieve this aim, all business units promote the use of alternative packaging in our supply chain, including catering, and strongly recommend the use of alternative drinking water sources to reduce dependency on plastic bottles.

Over the last year, we have introduced our on-board water solutions initiative, providing practical water treatment solutions on board vessels with the correct approval certificates, while ensuring the provision of safe drinking water to crew members.

Our solutions will contribute towards a significant reduction of costs associated with the provision of plastic water bottles, including the need for transportation, use of barges to lift pallets and minimizing plastic garbage waste, all while helping to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Mike Bradshaw, Global Head of  HSEQ at V.Group, commented: “Shipping is at a crucial turning point in building an environmentally driven future. At V.Group, we are dedicated to achieving and maintaining industry-leading performance in environmental initiatives in many areas of operation. We are proud to be embracing a variety of approaches being taken in every part of V.Group. We are passionate about collaborating for the greater good and have bold ambitions which serve as a leading example for others to follow in making environmental progress. The ambitions of IMPA SAVE align with the environmental goals set by our Environmental Committee, and we are looking forward to our continuing contribution to drive the environmental agenda as part of this Council.”

For more information, please visit IMPA SAVE website here.