“Our policy is to give environmental concerns the highest priority in our business operations”

That broad-based environmental commitment partly propelled China Navigation’s swift agreement with the U.S. Attorney’s office after an open-ocean incident. The agreement cited Pacific Celebes’ failure to keep accurate garbage-disposal records after a relatively small amount of slightly oiled sawdust was dumped overboard. The sawdust was used to clean up a spill of bilge water on the ship’s deck as it was crossing the Pacific Ocean to Los Angeles.

“Our policy is to give environmental concerns the highest priority in our business operations,” said Richard Kendall, China Navigation’s Managing Director. “We deeply regret this incident and are taking immediate steps to ensure it does not happen again.”

Pacific Celebes’ ocean monitoring program is just one example of the company’s commitment to the environment. The ship conducts the monitoring in conjunction with the United Kingdom’s National Oceanography Centre. The program is part of the International Ocean Coordination Project, an initiative of the International Oceanographic Commission.

The ship’s monitoring measures the ocean’s ability to absorb carbon dioxide, which has diminished in recent years and could indicate climate change. The ship travels a well-defined, trans-Pacific route and carries special, scientific equipment to take measurements and transmit them in real time to the centre. Because they can be taken across vast distances over a long period of years, the measurements help determine the differences between natural weather cycles and long-term climate change.

China Navigation’s environmental actions extend well beyond Pacific Celebes’ monitoring. The company’s most recently published environmental report details the program. The company’s environmental policy and its annual environmental reports can be found at http://www.cnco.com.hk/environment.

Among the most recent report’s highlights are:

Reduced carbon dioxide emissions from company ships for four consecutive years

Won four industry awards during the year for environmental achievements

Dry-docked five ships to apply new, low-friction