Lifting the standard of Responsibility

Creating a more sustainable tomorrow isn’t as easy as flipping a lever. But that hasn’t stopped us setting industry-leading decarbonisation targets for APM Terminals. We are taking action, and making our voice count where it matters most: with our customers, partners and broader stakeholder groups, including governments, port authorities, and environmental decision-makers.

Net zero by 2040

In this connected world, we step up to our own responsibility to improve and safeguard the planet that sustains us, and to secure a sustainable future for us all. That is why we made an industry-leading commitment to be fully net zero by 2040, and to reduce our scope 1 and 2 emissions by 65% by 2030 compared to 2022. Scope 1 emissions are those that we generate carrying out our business activities, whereas scope 2 are indirect emissions from purchased energy.

We will achieve our target whilst developing competitive and reliable solutions with high business and low environmental impact, which anticipate our customers’ challenges of today and meet their needs of tomorrow. We’ve stepped up to draw attention to the need for the entire industry to do the same, because when we made the decision to go ‘all in’ toward net zero we did so in the best interests of our people, our customers, our planet, and our business.

We engage with the decision-makers, local authorities, port authorities and governments, – to push decarbonisation to the top of everyone’s agenda because – no matter the current decarbonisation status or maturity of other terminals, ports or countries, we are all in this together.

Sahar Rashidbeigi, Head of Decarbonisation

How will we achieve this?

We will achieve our target whilst continuing to develop competitive and reliable solutions with high business and low environmental impact, anticipating our customers’ challenges of today, meeting their needs of tomorrow whilst fostering a sustainable future for all.

With annual emissions of ~0.5m tCO2, spread across ~4,000 assets, there is no single solution that will help achieve our ambition. That’s why we are planning to reduce our emissions on a global level and, with a mosaic of solutions, specifically focus on avoiding and reducing our fragmented local footprints. We do this by combining our global clout and expertise with local data & insights, that will help us to work together with governments, port authorities and customers.

To decarbonise our operations we need to reduce energy usage, replace fossil-fuel driven equipment with battery electric and decarbonise our grid through the use of renewable energy. In certain locations and circumstances we are using low Greenhouse Gas (GHG) fuels as a bridge technology.

We have created an internal roadmap towards our 2040 net zero commitment, working together with our terminals to ensure bottom up validation as well as activating our strategy and empowering our local colleagues. We are the first company in our industry to have our climate targets officially validated by the Science Based Targets Initiative (SBTi), a globally recognised authority on climate responsibility.

Rolling out our Energy Optimization Program

We continuously optimise our operations and do more with less through the APM Terminals Way of Working (WoW), which draws on Lean principles. Greater efficiency leads to, among other things, cost savings, reduced time in port for vessels, which is one of the ways we can help our shipping-line customers reduce emissions.

Whilst many of our terminals have already made the switch, we have introduced a mandate requiring lighting in our yards and buildings at our fully controlled terminals to be switched to LED by the end of 2024.

Electrify +4000 pieces of cargo handling equipment across our portfolio

In the next decade alone, we seek to buy or retrofit over 1,500 electric Terminal Tractors (eTTs), 500 electric Reach Stackers (eRS), as well as electric Empty Handlers (eEH), electric Top Loaders (eTL), 100 electric Straddle Carriers (eSC) and Shuttle Carriers (eShC) Carriers and 550 Rubber Tyred Gantry cranes (RTGs).

USD60 million electrification pilot

A key challenge facing the company, is the availability of competitively priced heavy-duty equipment such as reach stackers, terminal tractors, empty container handling equipment and straddle carriers. Research and development in this area has been slow off the mark and for ports around the world looking to make eye-watering investments in new electric equipment, numerous questions remain unanswered.

To help answer these questions, and stimulate the industry, our US$60 million electrification pilot programme is already underway in 2023, in Aqaba Container Terminal, APM Terminals Barcelona, APM Terminals Mobile, Pier 400 Los Angeles and Suez Canal Container Terminal.

sany-apmterminals-signing-ceremony-600 To support these pilots, APM Terminals has signed groundbreaking agreements with equipment manufacturers for a long-term collaboration on the further development of electric port equipment.

The company ordered electric terminal tractors, electric reach stackers and electric empty container handlers from SANY, Konekrane and Noell in 2023 and Hymar and Kalmar for new and retrofitted electrical straddle carriers, reach stackers and terminal tractors in 2024.

Completion of the pilots is expected in 2025 and knowledge and insights gained from the pilots are likely to drive up supply, encourage the development of industry-wide best practices, and stimulate ongoing development long term.

The five terminals were chosen for their decarb-ready maturity levels, supportive local authorities, government and legislation. In these locations, next-level electrified equipment will be tested, and staff will be offered training in future-ready safety and maintenance protocols.

- Build onsite solar
- Leverage Green Fuels (e.g., renewable and bio-diesel)
- Power purchase agreements (PPAs) to secure solar and wind energy

Electrification has little impact if terminals are running on grey electricity, which is why we continue to expand our renewable energy options. Where feasible, and increasingly, we are either buying renewable energy or creating our own.

At the end of 2023, 40% of our electricity demand was procured from renewable resources. Key initiatives driving the emissions reduction include the implementation of dedicated green tariffs in European terminals, Elizabeth (USA) and Callao (Peru), a virtual power purchase agreement covering 40% of electricity in Pipavav (India), switching from diesel to renewable diesel in Los Angeles (USA), installation of on-site solar in Pipavav (India), Aqaba (Jordan) and Barcelona (Spain), and implementation of energy optimisation initiatives at 12 terminals to reduce fuel and electricity use.

Sustainability Reports

APM Terminals sustainability reporting is integrated into the Maersk sustainability report, to provide a truly global overview of our company's impact.

2023 Sustainability Report 2022 Sustainability Report 2021 Sustainability Report 2020 Sustainability Report 2019 Sustainability Report

Our vision for the future

As experts in our field, we know that customers, port authorities and governments are increasingly seeking end-to-end decarbonised supply chains – even if in some cases they themselves are not even asking for it just yet. But where some see challenge, we see an opportunity. We have a vision for the future which is being cultivated in our company by a dedicated team, headed by Sahar Rashidbeigi, dedicated Decarbonisation Lead.

decarb-overview-apm-terminals

Public opinion, government legislation and incentives have played a major part in transforming road travel for individuals through electric vehicles. We see this as proof that change is possible. Replacing, retrofitting and in many cases fully reinventing vehicles in the logistics sector is a much greater challenge, but it's a challenge we can surmount.

Sahar Rashidbeigi, Head of Decarbonisation