South Korea’s national flagship carrier, HMM, and IKEA Supply Chain Operations have signed an agreement to utilize HMM’s low-carbon ocean transport solution, advancing the decarbonization of shipping.
This initiative focuses on significantly reducing carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) emissions by replacing conventional fossil fuels with environmentally responsible, waste-based biofuels for the ocean transportation of IKEA products.
HMM’s Green Sailing Service aims to help shippers and stakeholders reduce Scope 3 carbon emissions by enabling them to report carbon reductions directly resulting from HMM vessels using low-carbon fuels.
The biofuels used for this service are ISCC-certified and manufactured from waste-based biomass. HMM is deploying sustainable biofuel for its FIM service, which connects the Far East, India, and the Mediterranean. Both companies aim to lower their environmental impact and contribute to the decarbonization of ocean transportation.
Specifically, the agreement will help reduce approximately 11,500 tonnes of CO2 emissions from March 1, 2024, to February 28, 2025, through the deployment of these biofuels for all IKEA ocean cargo shipments with HMM.
According to HMM, the amount of CO2 emissions saved through this green partnership with IKEA—11,500 tonnes—is equivalent to transporting 14,534 TEU worth of Zero Emission Cargo from Busan, Asia, to Rotterdam, Europe.
IKEA aims to reduce the relative GHG emissions from its product transportation by 70% by 2030 and become an emissions-neutral cargo owner by 2040.
HMM, which launched the Green Sailing Service earlier this year, intends to expand the scope of its service through extensive cooperation.
In March, the South Korean company partnered with Germany’s transport and logistics company, Hellmann Worldwide Logistics, on the Green Sailing Service.
“We will continue to pursue sustainable development as our top goal, making significant progress towards carbon neutrality,” an HMM official concluded.
To note, IKEA recently partnered with German shipping major Hapag-Lloyd to decarbonize Hapag-Lloyd container shipments originating from Asia.
