Sea Cargo Charter

The Sea Cargo Charter provides a framework for aligning chartering activities with responsible environmental behavior. It sets a benchmark for responsible shipping, transparent climate reporting, and improved decision making in line with agreed climate targets.

A group of the world’s largest energy, agriculture, mining, and commodity trading companies have commited for the first time to assess and disclose the climate alignment of their shipping activities.

The Sea Cargo Charter establishes a common baseline to quantitatively assess and disclose whether shipping activities are aligned with adopted climate goals. The Sea Cargo Charter is consistent with the policies and ambitions adopted by member states of the UN’s International Maritime Organization, including its ambition to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from international shipping by at least 50% by 2050.

Consequently, the Sea Cargo Charter allows for the integration of climate considerations into chartering decisions to favor climate-aligned maritime transport and thus enables leaders from diverse industry sectors to use their influence to drive change and promote shipping’s green transition.

The Signatories of the Sea Cargo Charter include ADM, Alvean, AMAGGI Switzerland, Anglo American, Bunge, Cargill Ocean Transportation, Chevron, COFCO International, Copenhagen Commercial Platform (CCP), Diamond Bulk Carriers, Dow, Eagle Bulk, EGA, Equinor, Global Chartering, Golden-Agri Maritime, Gunvor Group, Heidelberg Materials Trading, Holcim Trading, K+S Minerals and Agriculture GmbH, Klaveness Combination Carriers, Louis Dreyfus Company, Maersk Tankers, Navig8 Group, Norden, Nova Marine Carriers, NYK Bulkship (Atlantic) NV, Rubis Energie, Shell, Signal Maritime Services, Stolt Tankers, Tata Steel Group, Torvald Klaveness, TotalEnergies, Trafigura, Viterra Chartering, and Wilmar International. All other responsible charterers are invited to join the initiative.

The Sea Cargo Charter was launched in October 2020 and established as an Association. Signatories to the Sea Cargo Charter automatically become members of the Sea Cargo Charter Association. The Global Maritime Forum is proud to manage the Secretariat of the Association.

Alongside the Poseidon Principles for Financial Institutions and the Poseidon Principles for Marine Insurance, the Sea Cargo Charter is based on four Principles — Assessment of climate alignment, Accountability, Enforcement, and Transparency — developed by the Global Maritime Forum to advance shipping decarbonization.

We thank Anglo American, Cargill Ocean Transportation, Dow, Norden, Total, Trafigura as well as leading industry players Euronav, Gorrissen Federspiel, Stena Bulk and expert advisers Smart Freight Centre, UMAS, UCL, and Stephenson Harwood who have worked with us to develop the Sea Cargo Charter.

Learn more about the Sea Cargo Charter at www.seacargocharter.org or by reaching out to info@seacargocharter.org with any questions.