Canada: Containership Owner Seaspan Receives Triple-E Rating

Containership owner Seaspan has received DNV’s new Triple-E rating. Triple-E is a voluntary self-improvement tool designed to assist ship owners in continuously improving their environmental performance. It was Seaspan’s vessel MOL EMERALD that received the rating – a testimony to active environmental management and energy efficient transportation of goods.

The rating, which was handed over at a ceremony in Vancouver, Canada by DNV President Tor E. Svensen, has been designed as a voluntary tool to help ship operators improve their organisational performance, identify ways to minimise their environmental impact and optimise their fuel consumption and thereby reduce costs.

The Triple-E rating is based on the capture of environmental and operational data from ships. The common denominator of the requirements covered in the rating is that most of them can easily be influenced by the owner of the ship; either by themselves or with the assistance of third parties such as DNV. Thus in effect the Triple-E encourages a process of continuous improvement, says Tor E. Svensen.

With the handing over of the rating, Seaspan Ship Management became the first containership owner to receive a Triple-E rating.

Seaspan was very excited to be the first containership owner globally to receive a Triple-E rating. Over the past two years Seaspan has focused on developing and operating more energy efficient and environmentally sound vessels and we see the Triple E rating as an excellent path towards continuous improvement and market leadership, says Peter Curtis, Vice President, Seaspan Ship Management.

The Triple-E

The Triple-E is a voluntary service which delivers a rating from 4 to 1 (1 is best) based on an independent assessment of a ship’s environmental performance. The rating is given per vessel, however the Triple-E requirements are two-fold and consist of company-specific requirements as well as vessel-specific requirements. Among other things it looks at a vessel’s discharge of harmful substances to sea as well as the shipping company’s environmental management system.

As the Triple E rating scheme is a standardized rating method delivered by an independent third party, it serves as a demonstrable method for us to prove to our charterers, investors and the public that we are investing in our policies, operations and vessels in order to support greater corporate sustainability, protect the environment and manage fuel consumption, says Mr. Curtis.

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Source: DNV, June 10, 2011