Danish product tanker owner TORM has taken a 75% stake in Danish marine equipment provider Marine Exhaust Technology, parent company to ME Production (MEP), which provided most of the exhaust gas cleaning systems (EGCS, or scrubbers) for TORM’s fleet, says an article published in Riviera.
The Acquisition
In a statement, TORM said it is acquiring the 75% ownership share from MEP’s founder, Jens Peter Faldt, and in the company’s Q2 report, TORM said the acquisition cost the company US$2.1M.
Independent Entity
Despite the shares changing hands, TORM said MEP will continue as an independent, stand-alone entity and will continue to serve its customer base.
Jens Peter Stakes
“The current management and production team at MEP will continue without any changes, and Jens Peter Faldt will continue as chief executive.
Jens Peter Faldt will maintain 25% ownership of MEP,” TORM said.
Environmental Development Hub
TORM said it views the new acquisition as a partnership that will allow the company to augment its decarbonisation efforts through the addition of MEP as an “environmental development hub”.
TORM’s Outfitting Fleet
The company said the acquisition materialised after a year of collaboration between TORM and MEP on outfitting TORM’s fleet of product tanker vessels with exhaust gas cleaning systems.
Working On Commitments
TORM Technical Division head Jesper Jensen said the acquisition of MEP would help TORM to reach its commitments to reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.
Achieving Environmental Targets
“We are delighted to enter into a further integrated partnership with MEP to continue our journey towards decarbonisation.
I am convinced that combining the experience and engineering resources at MEP with the operational excellence at TORM will help us in achieving our environmental targets, where we have decided to push fast forward to deliver a 40% reduction by 2025 and 45% by 2030 compared with 2008,” Mr Jensen said.
Emissions-Free Operations By 2050
In January 2022, TORM announced it was increasing its commitment to decarbonising its operations, targeting emissions-free operations by 2050 as well as intermediate targets of a 40% reduction in emissions by 2025 and 45% reduction by 2030.
The targets will be measured against 2008 levels of GHG emissions, the company said.
Fast-Forward Efforts
The company announced its updated goals via a LinkedIn post.
“We all have an obligation to do our utmost to reduce CO2 emissions.
TORM is pushing fast forward in our environmental efforts and will deliver a 40% CO2 reduction by 2025 – instead of 2030,” the post said.
Shaving Emissions
By its own count, TORM has more than 80 vessels on the water, including Handysize, MR, LR1 and LR2 product tankers.
The company said that, in 2020, it had already shaved 12.8% off its total emissions, as compared with an internally set 2015 baseline measurement.
Digital Tool
According to literature on TORM’s website, thus far, the company has relied on a digital tool that measures the emissions output from all of its vessels, along with “careful investment in proven technology and proactive renewal of hull coatings” to improve fuel efficiency.
Investment In Technology
“TORM continues to invest in technology and activities that enable our fleet to operate with greater energy efficiency.
This makes good sense environmentally and financially,” the literature said.
A New Intiative
TORM has signed on to low- and zero-emissions vessel initiatives including Denmark-based Shipping Lab and the global Getting to Zero Coalition.
Did you subscribe to our daily newsletter?
It’s Free! Click here to Subscribe!
Source: Riviera
