Drive Sustainability with Greener Logistics Solutions

To offer climate-friendly container transport services, Hapag-Lloyd started using biodiesel that produces less well-to-wake greenhouse gases from the fuel production to the end use by a ship. With Ship Green, customers can now directly book a climate-friendly shipment online.

While many companies offset their greenhouse gas emissions by purchasing CO2 certificates from climate protection projects, this approach doesn't directly address the emissions produced within their value chain. In contrast, Ship Green's "Book and Claim" chain of custody allows customers to purchase emission insets that are generated by switching to biofuels within their specific value chain (i.e., Hapag-Lloyd's fleet). This approach provides a more direct and impactful way to reduce emissions, as it promotes a tangible change in the fuel used, rather than just compensating for emissions elsewhere.

Ship Green is available for standard containers (22/42/45GP), hardtop containers (22/42/45UP), tanks (22/20TD, 22/20TN, 22/20KL, 22/20TG), and reefer containers (22/45RT). It is not available for special container types.

Climate change is a global phenomenon, and all greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions contribute to global warming, regardless of where they occur.
Hapag-Lloyd can only avoid shipping emissions effectively on routes where alternative fuels and ships capable of using them are available. To make it possible to avoid shipping emissions anywhere, Hapag-Lloyd has chosen the “Book and Claim” Chain of Custody.
“Book and Claim” means that Hapag-Lloyd attributes the emissions avoidance to all its ocean leg services regardless of the vessel and route used. With this Chain of Custody, Hapag-Lloyd guarantees that emissions in its fleet are avoided without limiting the availability of Ship Green to customers, e.g., through the local availability of alternative fuels.

Ship Green is available for all ocean legs.

You can directly add Ship Green to your shipment during the quotation or booking stage in Quick Quotes and Quick Quotes Spot. Alternatively, you can add it to a confirmed booking via the Navigator or the Additional Services Page before the shipment departs from its first port of loading. Please note that once Ship Green is purchased, changes or cancellations are not possible.

During the purchase of Ship Green you can choose between three different options. Choosing the one that fits best to your requirements, you can avoid either 25, 50 or 100% of the emissions created.

Once Ship Green is added to a shipment, the addition of Ship Green cannot be cancelled or changed.

If additional containers are added to an existing climate-friendly booking, the chosen Ship Green Product will be applied respectively. If containers are cancelled, the rest of the shipment will still keep the Ship Green status. Changes in port of loading, destination or similar won’t affect the Ship Green status.

Making a direct impact and immediately avoid emission requires a fuel switch which causes additional costs. Depending on your targets, you can choose between three different models and avoid 25, 50 or 100% of your emissions. The additional costs for biodiesel and the resulting emission avoidance are financed from this.

The Ship Green Declaration shows the emissions avoided by the customer and the corresponding amount of biofuel used. The whole process and the method behind the Ship Green Declaration has been certified by an independent verifier in 2022.

The emissions avoidance calculation is based on the renowned Clean Cargo Initiative Emission Accounting Methodology. This method is the standard in the liner shipping industry and is widely applied by carriers, freight forwarders, and shippers.

There are several greenhouse gases besides CO₂ such as methane and nitrous oxide. CO₂e (CO₂ equivalent) is the standard unit of measurement used to account for all greenhouse gas emissions.

Hapag-Lloyd primarily uses biodiesel on selected vessels to reduce its well-to-wake emissions footprint. On the vessel Brussels Express and the other 12 vessels, Hapag-Lloyd also uses liquefied natural gas (LNG).
Ship Green is currently purely based on biodiesel.
For the future, Hapag-Lloyd is looking into using biomethane and hydrogen-based fuels such as green methanol and ammonia.
 

Currently Hapag-Lloyd uses biodiesel and biomethane to avoid emissions. As of 2026 Hapag-Lloyd will also use green methanol in its fleet. Find more information here.

Hapag-Lloyd sources its biodiesel responsibly. This means that the biodiesel used is sourced from certified supply chains and produced from waste/residue-based material, such as brown grease or used cooking oil; guaranteeing that no edible virgin oils are included in the fuel.

From a life-cycle perspective, unlike plant-based biofuels, using waste/residue-based materials means no energy is needed to extract or cultivate the raw materials. On top of that, using these fuels reduces the environmental burden of treating waste/residue, which occurs anyway and has to be disposed of by law.