Maersk Supply Services Extends Support of Ocean Plastics Clean Up Mission

Maersk Supply Service operates two vessels to support The Ocean Cleanup (Maersk Supply Service)

PUBLISHED NOV 21, 2023 7:29 PM BY THE MARITIME EXECUTIVE

 

 

Maersk Supply Service and A.P. Moller–Maersk are extending their support of the non-profit group The Ocean Cleanup for another year as they work to complete the critical validation of a system that will be used to collect plastic from the world’s oceans. When the technology and system have been validated, The Ocean Cleanup believes it will be able to raise support from the public, governments, and other foundations to significantly scale up its operation from 2025 onwards.

Since 2018, Maersk Supply Service has supported The Ocean Cleanup with maritime capabilities and vessels. The parent company A.P. Moller-Maersk and Maersk Supply Service are providing logistics and marine activities to the non-profit while it has been testing different technologies and working to refine its systems.

The next step for The Ocean Cleanup is to validate the system from an engineering and ecological perspective, allowing it to demonstrate that there is a viable technology available to clean the oceans from plastics. The system validation is expected to be finalized by the end of 2024 and will include an environmental review of the impact of plastic pollution versus the greenhouse gas emissions of vessels involved.

Maersk Supply Service and A.P. Moller–Maersk will provide support to the program which includes project management. The company is also operating two anchor handling vessels as well as undertaking logistics services for waste collection and transportation for recycling. At the same time, the A.P. Moller Foundation will be providing a one-time grant to The Ocean Cleanup.

Robert M. Uggla, CEO of A.P. Moller Holding and Chair of A.P. Moller–Maersk said “The Ocean Cleanup holds an important mission to remove plastics from the oceans, one of the biggest environmental challenges of our time. Today plastic pollution impacts hundreds of marine species and it contaminates the marine food chain with toxic pollutants. With this in mind, Maersk Supply Service, A.P. Moller – Maersk, and the A.P. Moller Foundation have decided to extend support to The Ocean Cleanup to finalize and validate their technology and system.”

The agreement between Maersk Supply Service, A.P. Moller–Maersk, and The Ocean Cleanup will run until the end of 2024.