June to December 2019 was full of activities for SustainTrans member Dr. Sven Borén in a project about finding challenges and opportunities for shipping at large and Wallenius Marine towards sustainability. The project was funded by Vinnova and BTH through the PAUS-project, which allowed 20% working time at Wallenius Marine. It also included how BTH and Wallenius Marine could increase student collaboration, primarily within the programs about Strategic Leadership towards Sustainability and Marine Engineering.

The first phase was about investigating the current reality of shipping and Wallenius Marine regarding sustainability by using the Framework for Strategic Sustainable Development, including the Sustainability Principles and the ABCD-methodology. This was done primarily by literature reviews, and interviews and workshops with Wallenius personell, but also through a study visit at Wallenius ship MS Manon on her route from Bremerhaven to Southampton.

Pictures from the trip with Manon 2019. Photos by Sven Borén

The next phase included finding challenges and opportunities based on the finding from the first phase by using literature reviews, workshops and interviews. Key findings where technology development to run ships on renewable energy (e.g. biofuels and wind), but also that existing business models needs to be changed in order to make a shift towards a sustainable future. This is also what needs to be studied further on.

Read more about the results in the report.