Copenhagen, Denmark – A.P. Moller-Maersk announced it is renewing for three years and expanding its partnership with The Ocean Cleanup, a foundation dedicated to ridding the oceans of plastics.
The Ocean Cleanup’s mission is to develop advanced technologies to rid the world’s oceans of plastic. To achieve this goal, they aim to stop the inflow via rivers and clean up what has already accumulated in the ocean. Its ultimate goal is reaching a 90% reduction of floating ocean plastic by 2040.
«As a responsible maritime operator, we are committed to ensuring that the oceans can remain a healthy environment for generations to come. We are therefore very pleased to not just prolong but broaden the partnership agreement initiated back in 2018. » said Mette Refshauge VP, Corporate Communications & Sustainability, Maersk
Besides Maersk Supply Service support with vessel operations and offshore project management, Maersk will now support The Ocean Cleanup with logistics end-to-end handling services, ranging from worldwide shipment from different locations to airfreight, containers & special transport, customs clearance and warehouse and storage management.
“We will have a transport & supply chain manager fully embedded in The Ocean Cleanup´s office in Rotterdam. That program manager will serve as the single channel for them to engage with the full range of Maersk’s supply chain and transport services globally and will help The Ocean Cleanup to develop their own supply chain management capacity over time,” adds Mette.
“Maersk’s support over the last three years has been invaluable to furthering our mission. We are grateful to not only renew this partnership, but to strengthen it with their end-to-end logistics service. This contribution to our mission will not only help us clean more plastic from the ocean, but it will help us to effectively deploy more Interceptors river cleaning systems, and develop our next products made of certified plastic from the Great Pacific Garbage Patch,” said Lonneke Holierhoek, Director of Science & Operations at The Ocean Cleanup.
As part of the partnership agreement, Maersk will also assist The Ocean Cleanup in deploying scientific sensor technology aboard Maersk’s own fleet to map plastic floating in the oceans and help the organization have a better understanding of the severity of the problem they are working to solve.
The goal is to assist The Ocean Cleanup in mapping concentrations of harmful plastic in the world’s oceans to better focus The Ocean Cleanup’s efforts. “What better way to map the oceans than to harness one of the world’s largest fleets?” wonders Robin Townley, Head of Special Project Logistics at Maersk.
About the Ocean Cleanup Foundation
The Ocean Cleanup develops advanced technologies to rid the world’s oceans of plastic. They aim to achieve this goal by taking a two-pronged approach: stemming the inflow via rivers and cleaning up what has already accumulated in the ocean. For the latter, The Ocean Cleanup is developing large-scale systems to efficiently concentrate the plastic for periodic removal. This plastic will then be used to create durable products and fund continued cleanup, making cleanup itself circular. In 2019, the organization launched the other half to their solution, the Interceptor™, to extract plastic in rivers before reaching the ocean.
Founded in 2013 by Boyan Slat, The Ocean Cleanup now employs approximately 95 engineers and researchers. The foundation is headquartered in Rotterdam, the Netherlands.
