BG Freight Line unveils its ‘greenest ships yet’ – four vessels that will carry freight between Liverpool and Rotterdam, increasing capacity and cutting carbon emissions. Tony McDonough reports

Commercial shipping line BG Freight Line is introducing four new vessels onto its Liverpool to Rotterdam cargo route that it says will slash carbon emissions.

A subsidiary of Port of Liverpool owner, Peel Ports, BG Freight Line says the four new ships – BG Green, BG Blue, BG Red, and BG Orange – are 70m long and can carry up to 1,380 containers. This is 300 containers more than the older vessels.

That increased capacity will result in a lower carbon footprint per container. They will also use a state-of-the-art ‘scrubber’ to catch CO2 and sulphur particles.

And the vessels are also equipped to handle biomethanol, allowing them to be powered by this more sustainable fuel source as it becomes increasingly available in ports.

With the ships servicing the container route between Liverpool and Rotterdam, BG Green is the first in operation, having made its maiden voyage from the Port of Liverpool on April 27, with the other vessels set to come into service later this year.

David Huck, chief operating officer at Peel Ports Group, said: “Sustainability is at the heart of everything we do at Peel Ports and we are delighted to welcome these new ships, which are showing how green the maritime logistics sector can be.

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“The innovation behind their design represents the future of sustainability in shipping, and we are proud to be a part of this.

“Shipping has always been the most sustainable and effective way to transport goods, but now with BG Freight Line’s new ships, it will be even more so.”

BG Freight Line provides logistics services in the UK, Ireland and Europe, including door-to-door and quay-to-quay shipping for all types of containerised cargo.

Koert Luitwieler, chief executive of BG Freight Line, added: “We understand the importance of implementing measures in a bid to reduce our impact on the environment and we are doing this with our greenest ships yet.

“We hope that by pioneering eco-friendly solutions we can set a new standard for sustainable shipping – one which makes it even more environmentally friendly than before when compared to other methods of cargo transport.”