Becoming a sustainable business through circular thinking in the maritime industry

Read the full article in Global Maritime Forum

Simply reducing the carbon footprint of a ship won’t solve the negative environmental impact of trade and modern consumption patterns. Line Fryd Hofmansen, PA maritime and Circular Economy expert, explains how the shipping industry can facilitate circular global supply chains in her award-winning essay.

By finding new ways to leverage its role in global trade, the maritime industry can have a long-term impact on the broader sustainability agenda. Line explains how the maritime industry can become an enabler of the circular economy in global supply chains.

“By nature, the shipping industry functions as a link between the production and consumption sites in global supply chains. Moreover, consolidation in the shipping industry has meant it is increasingly controlled by large players with the capacity to own or partner with all links in the supply chain. Hence, the industry has the potential to lead global supply chains towards more circular means of production and consumption by offering an integrated system that can turn waste into new resources. This way of thinking is not new to the shipping industry, which has made ship breaking and scrapping an integral part of its business model. However, the industry now has a unique opportunity to become the driver of the Circular Economy in global supply chains. The shipping industry should use this opportunity to establish new business models for collecting and distributing waste for reuse in global supply chains,” Line writes.

Line Fryd Hofmansen is maritime and circular economy expert at PA Consulting. She is the winner of the Future Maritime Leaders essay competition.