Navigator Gas, Marubeni team up on carbon-neutral ethylene voyage

Navigator Gas, owner and operator of handysize liquefied gas carriers, and ethylene trader Marubeni Corporation have announced plans to achieve the world’s first carbon-neutral ethylene voyage.

The voyage would become carbon-neutral by offsetting the CO2 emissions from the voyage by investing in an environmental project in Cambodia designed to reduce emissions from deforestation and forest degradation.

As informed, the voyage will be performed by the Navigator Triton, a 21,020 cbm ethylene gas carrier, which departed from Morgan’s Point, Houston, Texas, U.S. on July 6th, 2021 and is set to transport its cargo across the Atlantic to Antwerp, Belgium.

Marubeni said that due to the increasing customer requirements for low carbon and carbon-neutral solutions, it would further develop this service for its customers.

The company has set a goal to strive for net-zero GHG emissions from the group by 2050. To make the goal of net-zero GHG emissions by 2050 an effective one, Marubeni intends to halve its total volume of emissions, which was about one million tons of CO2 in FYE 3/2020 by 2030.

Carbon offsetting is becoming increasingly popular in the sector as traders look at alternative ways of lowering their carbon footprint.

Some of the companies adopting the trend over the recent period have included Trafigura, Woodside as well as Shell.

“Carbon reduction is a key strategic objective for Navigator Gas as we seek to deliver our mission of connecting the world today whilst creating a sustainable tomorrow,” said Oeyvind Lindeman, Chief Commercial Officer at Navigator Gas.

“We are happy to achieve the first ever carbon neutral ethylene voyage together with Navigator Gas. We wish to take on the challenge of finding further areas for carbon reduction to meet new customer needs and expectations,” said Satoru Ichinokawa, Executive Officer, Marubeni Corporation.

Navigator Gas owns a fleet of 38 semi- or fully-refrigerated liquefied gas carriers, 14 of which are ethylene and ethane capable. It also owns a 50% share, through a joint venture, in an ethylene export marine terminal at Morgan’s Point, Texas.