We all know that most of the goods we sell and buy will travel by ship at some point.  Unfortunately it is pretty clear that shipping across the ocean is one of the most detrimental ways we can move our products.  Here are some fast facts about Ocean Shipping from Earth Justice:

Emissions and Bunker Fuel

• Ships generate 15 to 30 percent of the world’s smog-forming emissions.
• Bunker fuel burned by ships is 1,000 times dirtier than highway diesel used by trucks and buses.
• A single ship coming into harbor produces the smog-forming emissions of 350,000 new cars.
• Ship engines are far dirtier than on-road engines due to lack of  regulation.
• The International Maritime Organization has lagged far behind in revising outdated regulations for ship emissions.

And this doesn’t even mention the trash, grey water and sewage that are being dumped over board.  If you are shipping goods across the ocean, consider Green Shipping’s freight services and help to offset your part of this industry’s emissions.

The figures from the oil giant BP, which owns 50 tankers, and researchers at the Institute for Physics and Atmosphere in Wessling, Germany reveal that annual emissions from shipping range between 600 and 800m tonnes of carbon dioxide, or up to 5% of the global total. This is nearly double Britain’s total emissions and more than all African countries combined.

The Guardian, UK

Earlier this holiday season, these two great green minded publication, Mother Nature Network and Green Hands USA, featured Green Shipping in their journals.  Take a look and while your there feel free to write a comment on these posts thanking them for their support!

Mother Nature Network:  MNN is a one stop shop for anyone looking to green their life.  From the simple tasks of recycling to the more complex undertakings of remodeling your home the green way, MNN is a great resource for helping you help mother nature.

Green Hands USA: “Local Action, Global Reaction” Green Hands USA is a volunteer network and green resource center for anyone who would like to lend a helping hand in a green project.

A “Green Holiday” is the goal of many people who will ship packages to loved ones this year.  So along with the socks made from bamboo, recycling a cardboard box, and using newspaper instead of wrapping paper, remember that shipping can also be a great way to Green your holiday.

On October 8, 2009 UPS announced that they are launching a program that allows customers an option to purchase a carbon offset any time they ship a package. UPS customers pay a flat fee of $0.05 cents for ground shipments and $0.20 cents for air shipments. Certified offsets are purchased which support of variety of different programs including waste water treatment, landfill gas destruction and wetland restoration.

As a company dedicated to creating carbon neutral shipments, Green Shipping (www.greenshipping.com) is glad to see that other organizations are beginning to consider their shipment emissions and offer ways to offset them. “What is good for the environment is also good business.” Reducing the CO2 emitted by packages will help in the fight against climate change. Green Shipping offers a comprehensive carbon neutral shipping solution and supports shipments from UPS, FedEx, USPS as well as freight carriers. Green Shipping uses the weight, mode of transportation, and routing information for each and every shipment in order to provide the most accurate carbon footprint calculation available.
With Green Shipping, participating businesses can use their environmental commitment as a competitive advantage. Certified Green Shippers can display the Green Shipping logo on their website and in communication to their customers. With the Green Shipping iTrack™ package tracking tool, businesses can quickly and easily enable package tracking on their website and provide customers with a one stop solution for information on their orders. Green Shipping offsets the environmental impacts of customer shipments with purchases from Bonneville Environment Foundation who was award the EPA 2009 Green Energy Supplier of the Year award and is leading the way to a cleaner environment.
For more info on Green Shipping’s carbon neutral shipping solution, check out our short video
For more info on UPS carbon neutral shipping click here

PORTLAND, Ore. – September 15, 2009 The Bonneville Environmental Foundation (BEF), an entrepreneurial supplier of green power solutions, announced today that it has won two Green Power Leadership Awards- an awards program jointly sponsored by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the United States Department of Energy (DOE) and the Center for Resource Solutions (CRS). BEF has been recognized as the Best Green Power Supplier of the Year and its Solar 4R Schools program won Best Green Power Education Outreach Program in the Market Development Category . Award winners were announced during the Renewable Energy Markets Conference being held in Atlanta, GA this week.

Bonneville Environmental Foundation (BEF) was founded in Portland, Oregon in 1998. BEF is a national, nonprofit organization and has played a major role in the development of the carbon offset market. In 2000, BEF helped to create the voluntary market for carbon offsets by closing the first retail REC trade deal with the Environmental Protection Agency. They also launched the first online carbon calculator in 2001. In 2008, BEF Carbon Offsets became Green-e® Climate certified.

The partnership between Greenshipping.com and BEF Carbon Offsets, empowers organizations and individuals to dedicate funds to the development of renewable energy sources like solar power and wind farms, while at the same time making their package shipments carbon neutral. We are glad to have BEF as our partner and know that with their help, Greenshipping.com and our customers will reduce climate change.

The Fast Company article by James Hofflin hits the nail right on the head. Companies, particularly retailers, are beginning to actively engage in greening up. From conservation, to recycling, reducing and reusing, many retailers are thinking about their footprint and acting to reduce it. But… most of these green activities are taking place inside the store, office or in manufacturing. This leaves out a huge part of retailers Co2 emissions.

Transportation and shipping throughout the supply chain, from the supplier, to the manufacturer, to the retailer and the customer is most likely the largest carbon emitter of a company’s operations. So, why haven’t retailers thought about this? The most likely answer is that up till now, greening up your transportation and shipping meant leaning up your operations, investing in new trucks and strategiizing different routes. But now with Greenshipping.com, this daunting task is a bit more simple.

We agree that companies have to consider the entirety of their transportation and logistics to come up with the greenest solution. For example, Investing in renewable energy is one of the best ways to offset your transportation and shipping emissions. Greenshipping.com is happy have this opportunity to help businesses go green.

This online tutorial will guide you through the process of linking your shipment information to greenshipping.com, so you are always up to date on your shipment tracking. How to Track your packages