MOL, a leading global marine transport group, MOL Drybulk, 100% subsidiary of MOL and is a specialized unique entity for dry bulk, and Tata Steel Limited which is among the top global steel companies, today announced they have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to develop and deploy an environment friendly bulk carrier.

MOL will partner with Tata Steel on this innovative project to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in its supply chain.

Peeyush Gupta, Vice President, Supply Chain, Tata Steel, said: “The objective of the agreement is to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the ocean transportation of raw materials for production of steel. In the initial stage, the partnership will explore the environmental benefits and commercial and operational feasibilities of various technologies. This will include the, “Wind Challenger ^{(Note 1)} “, a hard sail, which would reduce emissions by harnessing wind energy. MOL has been jointly studying the technology with cross-industrial partners and the first vessel to be equipped with the Wind Challenger is slated to start operation in 2022.”

Ranjan Sinha, Chief Group Shipping and Director RM Procurement of Tata Steel, said: “Tata Steel as a signatory of Responsible Steel is committed to aligning its shipping activities with responsible environmental behaviour. We are pleased to be joining hands with MOL, a reputed global marine transport company, in combining efforts towards sustainable shipping.”

Toshiaki Tanaka, Senior Managing Executive Officer and Chief Environment and Sustainability Officer of MOL, said: “We have recently established MOL Group Environmental Vision 2.1 ^{(Note 2)}, where we announced that MOL Group will make a concerted effort throughout the Group to achieve net zero GHG emissions by 2050. Including this opportunity, we will pursue “Adoption of Clean Alternative Fuels” and “Enhancement of Energy-Saving Technologies” more in the five initiatives ^{(Fig. 1)} to achieve the goal. There would be a long, long pathway to achieve the Vison 2.1, and we believe that working collaboratively with a good partner is important. The partnership with Tata Steel, a leading global steel company, encourages MOL to challenge goals for the Vision 2.1.  We are very much happy to have this opportunity.”