Danish shipping company joins vanguard of ship operators using the 50001 energy management standard.
On Friday in Copenhagen, Lloyd’s Register presented Clipper Fleet Management with ISO 50001 certification issued by LRQA, Lloyd’s Register’s provider of independent business assurance. “To us, the ISO 50001 certification is a valuable recognition and documentation that we’re doing the right things within fuel efficiency and energy management,” says Kristian Morch, Group CEO, Clipper Group. “Going through the certification process has made us further streamline our fuel efficiency management processes, and we see the certification as a natural step in our continuous focus on reducing our fuel consumption and environmental impact.”
The ISO 50001 standard specifies requirements for establishing, implementing, maintaining and improving an energy management system. It can be seen as a superstructure to the mandatory Ship Energy Efficiency Management Plans (SEEMP), a requirement by IMO (International Maritime Organization) and establishing a mechanism to improve the energy efficiency of a vessel.
“It is clear that some leading companies can see the value of adopting this ISO standard. 50001 helps with regulatory compliance and in demonstrating environmental actions. It also helps deliver bottom line savings. With the emphasis on energy efficiency in shipping today this standard really can help our clients manage their systems to maximise their energy efficiency”, says Lloyd‘s Register’s Nordic Marine Manager, Ian Revell. “Clipper are to be congratulated for taking this step. They are among the first shipping companies in Scandinavia to adopt 50001 and they are also one of the very first dry cargo operators globally to do so.”
Clipper is developing and implementing its own Energy Performance Management System, which will facilitate benchmarking, analysis and improvement on the individual vessels’ performance. Concrete performance initiatives include speed optimisation, trim optimisation as well as hull cleaning and paint.
“Optimisation never stops”, Kristian Morch comments further. “Our objective is to constantly increase fuel efficiency for Clipper vessels and other vessels in our management. With an annual bunker consumption in our scale every saving, big or small, significantly contributes to bring down our environmental footprint.”
In addition to the ISO 50001 certification, Clipper Fleet Management and all vessels in technical management have also been ISO 14001 certified on overall environmental management.