CMA CGM Will Not Accept Plastic Waste on Board its Vessels, Effective April 15
On April 11, ocean carrier CMA CGM, announced its efforts to help protect the oceans, biodiversity and create a more sustainable trade by not accepting plastic waste to be loaded onboard its vessels, as of April 15th. Plastic waste is identified under HS code category 3915.
What This Means for CMA CGM
CMA CGM have carried around 50,000 containers of plastic waste each year, Maritime Executive reports. Rodolphe Saadé, Chairman and CEO of CMA CGM Group, believes these next steps will help prevent this type of waste from being exported to destinations where sorting, recycling, or recovery cannot be assured, he said in the One Ocean Summit held in February.
Not accepting plastic waste on its vessels won’t be an easy task. In its statement, CMA CGM say (link: https://www.cma-cgm.com/news/4064/plastic-ban-onboard-our-ships ) that any false declarations on the nature of the goods will lead to a blacklisting of the incriminated entity.
Dealing with Plastic in the Supply Chain Industry
Plastic is everywhere and, while it’s hard to say what the exact number of plastic is in ocean, scientists estimate eight million metric tons of plastic have entered the ocean in 2010 and the problem continues to get worse. In the past five years, total U.S. exports of plastic waste, pairings, and scrap have declined. Specifically in 2021, it fell by 11 percent, Supply Chain Dive reports.
Canada has been one of the top export destinations for plastic scrap from the U.S. While China, who used to be the leading importer of plastic scrap from the U.S, has placed a dent on scrap goods exports, Supply Chain Dive reports.
Most of the plastic that are in the oceans have been from waste thrown on the ground or washed into rivers, experts say. They continue saying the amount of plastic entering the oceans could triple over the next 20 years, which could cause great damage to marine ecosystems, plant, and animal life, if efforts aren’t being done to improve the removal of plastic waste.
In its February statement to customers, CMA CGM says the ban on the plastic waste on ships will “prevent this type of waste from being exported to destinations where sorting, recycling or recovery cannot be assured.”
Looking Forward
Ways to improve the environment have been a hot topic for the last few years in the industry, with many different environmental goals hoping to be hit by 2030, including reducing emissions and plastic waste. Of course, the shipping industry is not fully responsible for the issue of plastic pollution and other impacts involving the environment, but there definitely are certain things the industry could do to help improve the environment in the future ahead.
If you would like more information regarding this topic, check out our previous blog post or contact our team at InterlogUSA. We will be happy to assist you on any questions or comments you have! In addition, we have our weekly market updates that can provide you with relevant freight news, updates, and developments across the industry.