DFDS: full steam ahead towards green transition

DFDS aims to accelerate its green transition from incremental steps to full climate neutrality, the Danish ferry and logistics company revealed in its Q1 2022 interim report.

As explained, it intends to achieve this target by knowledge sharing across sectors, efficient use of resources, and large-scale implementation of decarbonisation initiatives.

In 2020, DFDS presented its ambitious climate action plan to consistently reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and ultimately become climate neutral by 2050.

The long-term transformative plan includes the introduction of a green freight ferry in DFDS’ route network by 2025. The company said that the work continues to enable the deployment of the newbuilding as planned.

What is more, the ferry company is collaborating with stakeholders to develop green transport corridors. The partners include companies in different parts of the value chain — from agricultural suppliers, food producers, fuel suppliers, to logistics and transport providers.

The company’s climate action plan also covers short-term actions to reduce emissions from existing assets (mainly ferries and transport equipment).

As announced in 2020, the company targets a 45% reduction of GHG emissions in 2030 from the 2008 baseline and a 25-35% reduction expected between 2019 and 2030.

“Fuel and emission savings from the applications are continuously documented and subsequently applied to the rest of the fleet as appropriate. In Q1 2022, the CO2 emissions from ferries were 13.8 g/CO2/GT mile, a reduction of 1.4% compared to 14.0 g/CO2/GT mile in Q1 2021. The improvement was primarily due to a positive impact from speed reduction of chartered ferries,” DFDS said.

In 2022, the following key initiatives are planned for completion to lower emissions from the existing ferry fleet:

• Testing of 100% biofuel on ferries is progressing and expected to be introduced in 2022

• Application of anti-fouling hull paint to reduce friction in the water and hence fuel consumption expected to be completed on 18 ferries, of which 8 were initiated or completed in Q1 2022
• Installation on 13 ferries of new injection systems to optimise engine combustion and save fuel (PMI VIT)
• 13 other projects, including waste heat recovery, excess energy management, and hull modifications.

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