Globally, consumers are demanding cleaner shipping and LNG as a marine fuel delivers.
There is growing shipper and consumer pressure for more environmentally-friendly logistics. Consumer goods companies such as Amazon, IKEA and Unilever, as well as major motor manufacturers, have publicly stated that they are aiming to ‘green’ their entire marine and land transportation logistics.
Around 98% of all new PCTC (pure car and truck carriers) are LNG powered. In May 2025, UECC (United European Car Carriers) announced that it had achieved a massive reduction in well-to-wake CO2 emissions in 2024, mainly through bunkering high-impact liquefied biomethane (LBM) on LNG-fuelled vessels under its Sail for Change initiative, supported by major European vehicle manufacturers. The company’s latest annual environmental data shows its emissions fell by more than 107,000 tonnes of CO2 last year, a significant 70% increase on a reduction of over 63,000 tonnes achieved in 2023. JV parent organisation NYK, committed to continuous use of liquefied biomethane in July 2025. Competitor K-Line also announced its first liquefied biomethane bunkering in June 2025.
In container shipping in April 2024, Hapag-Lloyd won the first tender by ZEMBA (the Zero Emission Maritime Buyers Alliance) for ocean shipping based on biomethane that achieves at least a 90% reduction of GHGs. Through this deal, the ZEMBA Members (including Amazon, Maeta, IKEA, Nike and Phillips) have committed to collectively avoid at least 82,000 tonnes of CO2 over two years.
In 2019, BHP released the world’s first bulk carrier tender for 12 LNG-fuelled vessels for the transport of 27 million tonnes of its iron ore from Australia to North Asia. These were to be able to transport the equivalent of about 10% of BHP’s iron ore sales. BHP expect the introduction of LNG-fuelled vessels will result in more than 30 per cent lower CO2-e emissions on a per voyage basis compared to conventional fuel along the Western Australia to China route.