The head of the world’s fifth-largest shipping company Hapag-Lloyd, Rolf Habben Jansen, can also imagine using nuclear propulsion for his container ships to achieve climate goals. “Nuclear reactors have a certain potential because they can make an important contribution to decarbonization,” the 57-year-old told “Spiegel”. The costs would probably be acceptable and the ships would also be able to travel a little faster again. “I am of the opinion that this should not be ruled out until it has been thoroughly investigated.”
Hapag-Lloyd is aiming for complete decarbonization by 2045. In order to reduce fuel costs and CO₂ emissions, the fleet has been sailing an average of 1.0 to 1.5 knots slower for more than a year and a half, Habben Jansen recently said. So far, the shipping company has also focused on researching and procuring “green” fuels such as “green” methanol.
“Modern nuclear liquid salt reactors are not comparable to large facilities such as those on military aircraft carriers,” Habben Jansen told “Spiegel”. But it could be a long time before we know whether nuclear propulsion is actually a realistic option. “Perhaps we won’t know until next decade.”
Hapag-Lloyd says it has 266 container ships and an annual transport volume of 11.9 million standard containers (TEU). Only the container shipping companies MSC from Switzerland, Maersk from Denmark, CMA/CGM from France and Cosco from China are larger. Relatively close behind Hapag-Lloyd are the Singaporean container shipping company One and the Taiwanese shipping company Evergreen.