Wallenius Wilhelmsen : The world’s oceans are hanging by the rope! Safety and the environment are aligned

Build new value chain

During this pioneer project, Wallenius Wilhelmsen is establishing a new workable value chain including pick-up, delivery and return of ropes. "Thus far, there has been no tracking of ropes: We have had no knowledge of what is happening to the ropes once we determine that they are obsolete for our purpose. Safety is a key component in this evaluation. Now sustainability is the other key component added to this equation," says Strand.

Dumped in the ocean

"We know from research that a great number of ropes are dumped into the ocean or sold to local vendors to keep amounts of waste low at ports. We are now part of an effort to establish port reception facilities to ease the handling of used ropes and ensure that the remains are put into a recycling system and not an incinerator," says Strand who emphasizes that there is a need to establish a tracking system based on a serial number system or something similar. He is also looking into the possibility of setting up a "rope as a service" arrangement where industry players sign-up for the rope recycling system with contractual obligations.

"It is still early days and impossible to tell the fixed cost of recycled mooring ropes. With today's focus on green shipping, old ropes will become a commodity - not only because you get a new rope made from an old one - but because players can be willing to pay for getting their ropes recycled to ensure that they are compliant with their sustainability goals towards 2030 and on."

The European strategy for plastics in a circular economy was adopted in 2018 and it was the first ever Europe-wide strategy on plastics. That strategy outlines a transition towards a circular economy; plastics placed on the EU market shall be reused, repaired and recycled and their design and production shall consist of sustainable materials causing no harm for the environment. Mandatory marking of plastic ropes could be a possible direction which the EU could go.