The decarbonization of the world economy is the grand challenge of the coming decades. Shipping is no exception and pressure is escalating from regulators, financiers, customers and the general public for ship owners and operators to reduce emissions to the air and water. As a trusted independent partner to the maritime industry, DNV is responding to the needs of our customers and providing practical advice with every aspect of helping their vessels and fleets become more sustainable.

Hapag-Lloyd has concluded two debut transactions according to the Green Loan Principles of the Loan Market Association (LMA), and DNV has provided a second party opinion to confirm compliance with the requirements as an independent expert. The transactions are associated with the financing of six ultra-large 23,500 TEU container ships, which were ordered in December 2020.

“Our first green financings are a major milestone for us, as we are breaking new ground in the container shipping segment by financing newbuilding projects geared towards sustainability,” said Mark Frese, Chief Financial Officer of Hapag-Lloyd. “The transactions will help us to modernise our fleet while further reducing our CO₂footprint at the same time. In addition to enjoying our constructive collaboration with DNV on this project, it was also very helpful – especially with regard to the formal requirements for preparing a secondary opinion and the technical specifications of the vessels.”

“We were very pleased to have been asked by Hapag-Lloyd to offer our independent expertise to assess whether the vessels meet the Green Loan criteria,” Shaun Walden, Project Director, Sustainability and ESG Services, DNV. “This is a ground-breaking deal that shows that the industry can move towards greater sustainability hand-in-hand with improved commercial performance of the asset.”

“Based on their hydrodynamic optimization, very efficient main and auxiliary engines and use of LNG as their main fuel, these vessels can meet all the criteria required,” said Jan-Henrik Hübner, Global Head of Shipping Advisory Practice at DNV Maritime. “Furthermore, with the ability to run on bio- and synthetic-LNG once these fuels become more widely available, they offer an example of how vessels can reduce carbon intensity now, while being ready to move to a lower or zero carbon future.”

As a result of the highly efficient high-pressure LNG dual-fuel engines, the six newbuildings will have CO₂ emissions approximately 15 to 25 percent lower than a comparable conventional fuelled vessel. This means that in addition to the requirements of the LMA’s Green Loan Principles, the ships will also satisfy the EU Taxonomy’s technical screening criteria for sea and coastal freight water transport. The state-of-the-art vessels are being built in South Korea and are scheduled to be delivered in 2023.