Environment

Safe Ship Recycling

Although our vessels are relatively young and it will be many years before they will be retired, we are committed to ensuring our vessels will be recycled in a way that does not pose risk to human health and safety or to the environment.

All of our new builds, with the first sister vessel delivered after 2009, have an Inventory of Hazardous Material (IHM) or similar notation.  This IHM identifies, locates and lists all hazardous and potentially hazardous material onboard a vessel; this will enable the ships to be recycled safely.

The Hong Kong Convention for the Safe and Environmentally Sound Recycling of Vessels is an IMO convention that is yet to be ratified.  When it is in force, all vessels over 500 GT will be required to have on board an IHM.

Piloting DNV’s Triple E™ Rating System

Seaspan’s vessel the MOL Emerald was the first containership to receive a Level 3 Triple E rating.

DNV’s Triple-E is a voluntary self-improvement tool designed to assist ship owners in continuously improving their environmental performance. It delivers a rating from 4 to 1 (1 is best) based on an independent assessment of a ship’s environmental performance. The rating is given per vessel, however the Triple-E requirements are two-fold and consist of company-specific requirements as well as vessel-specific requirements. Click here for more information.

Alternative Marine Power (AMP)

Seaspan has installed AMP equipment on ten of our existing vessels (and eight of our vessels under construction).  This equipment will allow these vessels to connect to shore power and switch off their auxiliary engines while at berth.  Switching off these engines will cut down on our emissions of SOx, Particulate Matter and NOx in the immediate vicinity of the port.

Ship Energy Efficiency Management Plan

We are currently implementing and testing Ship Energy Efficiency Management Plans (SEEMP) on two of our vessels, with the intention to roll out SEEMPs to all of our vessels in the next few years.  These SEEMPs are ship specific tools developed to help manage the energy use on our ships. Our SEEMPs focus on operational, mechanical, hull and communicational improvements and will be updated and continuously improved.

Our SEEMPs follow the guidelines laid out by IMO.  As of 2013 the IMO will make the implementation of SEEMPs mandatory as a way to control CO2 emissions from the shipping sector.

Seaspan’s Action on Vessel Energy Reduction (SAVER)

SAVER is an initiative started by Seaspan in 2009 with the vision of building a culture with a greater focus on energy efficiency of our fleet and its operations. The specific aim of the SAVER initiative is to reduce the level of CO2 emissions from our fleet by reducing our fuel oil consumption. To learn more about Seaspan innovation click here.