“The time to act is now if we are to solve shipping’s climate challenge."

A.P. Moller-Maersk CEO Søren Skou technically isn't wrong. And, it's fantastic to see so many companies – not just in shipping – seriously looking at their environmental impact. But let's be honest: the time to take action actually passed us by some time ago, didn't it.

The recent IPCC report was a sobering look at how human activity is impacting the planet, and shipping, like many other industries, has to shoulder a large part of the blame. Over 90% of world trade is carried across the oceans, and in recent years the CO₂ emissions produced from shipping has started to creep up.

So what is there to be done? The simple answer is we could ship less, but that's not particularly good for business. However, there are other solutions that, if combined, could be helpful. Dear reader, you'll never believe it, but in this very issue, you will learn some of the methods that the shipping industry could use to tackle the climate crisis.

We could use cleaner fuel, such as methanol, which we discuss with A.P. Moller-Maersk. We could also increase efficiency when it comes to timing port arrivals, which we learn about following the world’s first digitally controlled port arrival. Or, we could incentivise ports to concentrate on their sustainability through government action, such as the plan for Scottish green ports.

And that's not all. We also look at how artificial intelligence is being used to assist with emergency response by monitoring distress calls, as well as looking at the state of ports in the UK half a year on from Brexit.

So for all of this, and much more, read on. Oh, if you don't already, then you can follow us @ShipTechMag and let us know your thoughts.