Website helps customers find greenest ship

International shipping companies including Maersk Line and Hanjin Shipping Co. Ltd. have rolled out initiatives to cut down on the amount of pollution emitted from their ships. The clampdown on ship emissions is expected to hit even closer to home with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s recent request to the International Maritime Organization.

The EPA is asking the United Nations agency tasked with maritime safety and pollution prevention “to designate an area off the coasts of Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands in which stringent international emission controls would apply to engines and fuels on ships operating in the area,” according to the agency’s website.

The shipping industry is working to cut down its emissions as a way to get ahead of regulations, but efforts made by individual carriers can also be used to market themselves as “greener” transporters to customers. A new website provides shipping customers an easy way to determine just how fuel efficient shipping companies’ vessels are.

Hunter Lovins, an international sustainability expert, said a company's carbon footprint will increasingly become a liability or an asset as the international market factors a business's sustainability into its worth. She expects companies’ carbon footprint will be a line on balance sheets within a decade.

Read more in the Jacksonville Business Journal.