Last month, the International Chamber of Shipping said they are in the process of creating a nongovernmental organization to tackle carbon emissions within the shipping industry funded by $5 billion from shipping companies over a decade and continues to seek additional stakeholders’ participation.
“[It] is critical to accelerate the R&D effort required to decarbonize the shipping sector and to spur the development of commercially viable zero-carbon ships by the early 2030s.” – The International Chamber of Shipping
The organization to be known as the International Maritime Research and Development Board will be overseen by the member countries of the U.N. maritime agency and financed by shipping companies through a mandatory contribution of $2 per metric ton of marine fuel.
While the shipping industry contributes only about 2% of global greenhouse gases, it accounts for 20% of greenhouse gases in the United States alone. The International Chamber of Shipping hope to use the funds to “spur the development of commercially viable zero-carbon ships by early 2030. More details to follow when the governments discuss the shipping industry’s proposal when the IMO’s Marine Environment Protection Committee meets in London in March.
In the meantime, let’s talk about an up-and-coming trucking company that has been making headway since its inception about 4 ½ years ago. A San Diego-based automated trucking company, TuSimple seems to be on everyone’s lips. Just last September, the company announced that their new investments bring their total funding to a whopping $298 million. Their list of investors includes UPS, CDH investments (a Chinese venture capitalist), Lavender Hill Capital (investment firm), and Mando Corp. (a South Korean company). They’ve been since utilizing a new night vision-capable camera and have been running a pilot with USPS, running round trips between Dallas and Phoenix.
This past December, TuSimple announced that its self-driving technology has reduced fuel consumption for trips by at least 10%. TuSimple has level 4 autonomous trucks which SAE international has defined as a truck that can drive itself under certain conditions without any driver input or backup assistance. Initial research and findings have started to suggest that TuSimple trucks will significantly reduce the environmental impact of heavy-duty trucking. Currently, they have 18 contracted customers and make between 13-19 runs a day in Arizona with goals to be driverless by 2021. In terms of decarbonizing the shipping sector and fighting the ever-growing driver shortage—TuSimple is way ahead of its game.
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