Maersk employees innovate a system to deliver fresh water from Maersk’s vessels to ports

Fresh water scarcity is an increasing problem faced by regions all over the world. Four billion people — almost two-thirds of the world’s population — experience severe water scarcity for at least one month each year, and half of the world’s population could be living in areas facing water scarcity by as early as 2025*. With this background, a team of three employees of A.P. Moller – Maersk (Maersk), who are former seafarers, decided to undertake an innovative project that could store and deliver fresh water from vessels to ports.

Cargo ships undertaking global trade are equipped with fresh water generator systems that produce clean drinking water by distilling sea water using heat energy harnessed from their engines. Traditionally, this system has been used to generate water for consumption only onboard the vessels. However, the excess water produced has been overlooked. Through this innovative project, this untapped resource has been capitalised on by optimising the process and storing the excess water in tank containers before delivering it to ports.

Each vessel can fill two tank containers on an average sea voyage between two ports. With the process optimised and tank containers stored at the right location onboard, two tank containers with a combined capacity of 50,000 litres can be filled with fresh water. Amongst the first pilot runs were the deliveries at the Port of Colombo and Port of Salalah of two tank containers, each filled with 25,000 litres of fresh water.

“At Port of Salalah, sustainability is one of our top priorities and are committed to decarbonising our operations by 2040. We also recognise that sustainability is not only about decarbonising supply chains but also protecting our environment and its finite resources. The first tank container of fresh water delivered by Maersk from its vessel is an important milestone that has the potential to pave the path for a larger scheme of things. This project opens doors for many more ships moving around the world, which can replicate this system and create an incredibly large supply of fresh water that is being delivered all around the world to address the ever-increasing challenge of water scarcity,” Keld M Christensen, Chief Executive Officer, Port of Salalah.

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