FLEET joins IMPA SAVE's pledge to reduce environmental footprint of single-use plastic bottles

• IMPA SAVE aims to vastly reduce the more than 40 tons of waste plastic bottles disposed of by the global shipping fleet each year.

• FLEET's fleet of more than 600 vessels are now committed to cutting plastic usage, with 55% of the vessels already having a water purification system onboard.

• FLEET aims to further reduce plastic water bottle usage by driving cultural change among seafarers through educational campaigns

Fleet Management Limited (FLEET) has signed the IMPA SAVE pledge to reduce the deployment of single-use drinking water bottles at sea. As a leading third-party ship manager with a portfolio of over 600 vessels, FLEET sees its role as significant in helping the industry navigate reform and is committed to managing its environmental footprint responsibly.

IMPA SAVE, launched by the International Marine Purchasing Association (IMPA) in 2020, aims to reduce more than 40 tonnes of waste plastic bottles disposed of by the global shipping fleet each year.

Kishore Rajvanshy, Managing Director at Fleet Management, said:

“Environmental stewardship is at the heart of FLEET’s sustainability strategy. We acknowledge the significant environmental footprint of plastic bottles and would like to do our part in reducing the use of these in the global shipping industry.”

To date, 55% of FLEET’s vessels have a water purification system onboard, with more to soon follow suit. In parallel, the company aims to roll out educational campaigns for its 24,000+ seafarers to consume more water from the purification system and less from plastic water bottles on board.

The IMPA SAVE pledge

The IMPA SAVE programme enables ship-owners, ship managers and maritime suppliers to pledge to cut usage of plastic water bottles via a dedicated website developed for the programme by IMPA at www.impasave.org. Including the recently added FLEET vessels, shipping companies representing more than 8,000 vessels have now pledged to stop using single-use plastic water bottles as part of IMPA SAVE.

IMPA SAVE is fully aligned with the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals. IMPA intends that SAVE becomes the vehicle through which IMPA members and marine colleagues work with the industry’s best and brightest to harness collective knowledge of sustainable solutions for the benefit of all in the maritime sector.

Commenting on the pledge, Alex Drew, Procurement Director at Fleet Management, said:

“At FLEET, we actively support the use of environmentally safe and biodegradable products. Joining forces with IMPA SAVE publicly affirms our commitment to reducing our use of plastic. We are working to ensure our supply partners understand the importance of this – to both FLEET and the planet – and we hope they join us in adopting new policies that actively encourage transitioning from the traditional harmful packaging to environmentally-friendly solutions.”

A plastic bridge to the moon

Mikael Karlsson, the programme’s chair and IMPA’s sustainability special ambassador, said:

“Just picture a bridge five feet wide made of plastic drinking water bottles; our industry’s annual consumption would reach all the way to the moon. If that is not enough then consider the impact on the environment of the delivery of the bottles, the packaging and the CO2.”

Karlsson and his colleagues on the SAVE council believe the damage to the environment can be significantly reduced via practical solutions for providing healthy and clear water for seafarers that are also less expensive for ship-owners and managers than procuring thousands of single-use plastic bottles. Karlsson added:

“With many vessels already operating with a functioning reverse osmosis or evaporators onboard the addition of a filtration system means drinking water is freely available offering a return on investment that benefits all.”

Leading shipowners, ship-managers and maritime suppliers collaborate

The IMPA SAVE council is made up of a leading group of global shipowners and maritime suppliers representing companies with a combined fleet of more than 1000 vessels and massive collective purchasing power. Representatives from Maersk Procurement, Teekay Shipping, Wilhelmsen Ship Management, OneCare Solutions and Weco Shipping are represented on the council. The group is chaired by IMPA Special Ambassador Mikael Karlsson of Northern Marine.

By bringing companies together under the IMPA SAVE programme, IMPA aims to create an opportunity to share knowledge on better, more sustainable practices and alternatives through regular webinars and conferences designed to motivate each other to be better stewards of our oceans through procurement and supply chain management and committing and impact reporting.

Stephen Alexander, IMPA’s chief operating officer, said:

“SAVE’s mantra is guarding our people and our planet. Companies such as FLEET have a huge role to play in this.”