Arkas Maritime Group starts to measure its Corporate Carbon Footprint in 18 countries (Including; Turkey, Algeria, Bulgaria, Egypt, France, Georgia, Germany, Ghana, Greece, Italy, Lebanon, Morocco, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Spain, Tunisia, Ukraine) with owned offices, using 2023 as the reference year. The group is currently measuring Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions for 2023, with preparations for Scope 3 emission calculations in 2024. Targets for each scope are being established, and a long-term decarbonization strategy is in development.
CCWG (Clean Cargo Working Group)
Arkas Line is the first and only member of the CCWG working group in Turkey since 2013, which consists of 18 shipping companies that hold 85% of the world’s container transportation, and more than 85 Global customers and forwarders.
The aim of this organization, that is managed under the umbrella of SFC (Smart Freight Center) as of 2022, has been determined as reducing GHG emissions in container transportation for a more sustainable future and ensuring cooperation between stakeholders to achieve the “2050 Net Zero” target.
Development in emission scores is monitored through annual measurement, evaluation, verification and reporting, and necessary studies are encouraged accordingly.
In 2023, Arkas Line achieved a 25.38% reduction in CO2 emissions through operational enhancements with baseline 2011. The overarching goal is to attain a 30% reduction by 2025.
In addition, as of January 1, 2020, VLSFO fuel has been used on all vessels and Sulfur emissions were reduced by 82.8%.
Energy Efficiency and Operational Excellence
The International Maritime Organization (IMO) implemented a new regulation on January 1, 2020, to reduce sulfur emissions from 3.5% to 0.5%. As a result, Arkas Line transitioned to using VLSFO (Very-Low Sulphur Fuel Oil) and ULSFO (Ultra-Low Sulphur Fuel Oil) on all its vessels. Since 2020, we have successfully reduced our sulfur emissions by 82.8%.
In 2023, we launched our Operational Excellence (OpEx) department to closely monitor ship energy efficiency and enable real-time interventions in the short term. The OpEx department focuses on Arkas Line’s decarbonization journey and includes a series of processes necessary for compliance with evolving regulations. Its goal is to optimize operational efficiency, reduce emissions, and ensure alignment with regulatory frameworks.
Emission Savings in IT Processes
Arkas Achieves 99.73% Emission Savings in IT Processes with Microsoft Cloud Applications in 2023
In 2023, Arkas Holding achieved substantial environmental gains, realizing a 99.73% emission reduction in cloud-based workloads (equivalent to 389,080 km of car use).
The carbon emissions from the services that Arkas runs on the Microsoft cloud peaked in 2019 (the period when it migrated to Azure) and then showed around –10% yearly downward trend despite a +63% increase in workloads on Azure from 2019 to 2023.
The Carbon Intensity (carbon emission rate based on cloud-based workloads) value has decreased by 58% from 2019 to 2023. Investments in renewable energy sources made in Microsoft data centers have been effective in reducing this value.
These results underscore the company’s strong commitment to sustainability and environmental responsibility.