Designed by French start-up Searoutes, new tool uses route data and vessel characteristics to calculate CO2 emissions
A new tool promises to help firms cut emissions from their supply chains and shippers maximise their contribution to tackling the climate crisis by choosing shipping services that emit the least CO2.
Named Searoutes and designed by a French start-up, the system uses actual route data and vessel characteristics obtained from Automated Identification Systems (AIS) data to calculate CO2 emissions of different carriers.
It integrates AIS data with the schedules of all maritime carriers, processing the information using algorithms that extract true distances and speeds. Searoutes claims the data enables the calculation of an accurate CO2 footprint calculation that goes far beyond the current methodology, known as EN 16258.
"The ability to accurately calculate the CO2 emissions of transport services in order to make the best decisions has become a major issue," said Pierre Garreau, Co-founder and CEO of Searoutes. "Improving the performance of supply chains is a central issue for all companies. Not only in economic and commercial terms, but also in environmental terms."
"This is a particularly important challenge for maritime transport, which is estimated to account for between 80 and 90% of world merchandise trade," Garreau added.
Using more granular data, Searoutes enables shippers to choose the service and carrier that will emit the least CO2, it claims. A number of firms, including CEVA Logistics and Buvco, are already using the firm's platforms to calculate their customers' CO2 emissions.
"The growing stakes of CO2, a strategic imperative for CEVA Logistics and the CMA CGM Group, lead us to be ever more agile. The flexibility of the partnership with Searoutes reinforces our ability to develop products even more quickly with functionalities such as deep-learning algorithms, which are essential for the control of our carbon footprint," said Frédéric Obala, chief digital officer at CEVA Logistics.
In the framework of the Green Deal, the European Commission estimates that a 90 per cent reduction in emissions from the transport sector by 2050 is necessary to achieve the climate ambitions set by the Paris agreement. However, decarbonising freight - demand for which is expected to multiply by a factor of three by 2050, following the International Transport Forum - is one of the biggest challenges on the way to achieving long term net zero emissions goal.
The shipping industry has taken a series of steps to curb emissions through the development of new technologies and new emissions reporting rules and efficiency standards. However, the international rules developed under the auspices of the International Maritime Organisation have been routinely condemned by environment campaigers who argue they are badly underpowered and will have a negligible impact on the sector's emissions over the coming decade.