Noah’s train, the longest mobile artwork for climate protection, arrived at APM Terminals Maasvlakte II where one of the containers will soon be loaded on Laust Maersk and head off to the 2019 United Nations Climate Change Conference in Santiago de Chile.
Inspired by the oldest history of environmental protection, Noah’s Ark, the initiative draws attention to the coalition’s goal of shifting 30% of freight to rail by 2030.
Noah’s Train is the official climate ambassador of Rail Freight Forward (RFF), a coalition of European freight railways. RFF wants to achieve this modal shift by involving railway companies, infrastructure managers, and political decision-makers across Europe.
Noah’s Train left on December 14, 2018 in Katowice, Poland and has since then travelled via many European cities before reaching APM Terminals Maasvlakte II for its anniversary event. In each city it visited, two containers of the train were designed by local street art artists, in order to finally transform the train into the longest mobile artwork to protect the climate. The designed containers will then be put to operational use for the most climate friendly way to transport goods and Merchandise.
A Farewell to a journey across the world
On October 11th, the longest mobile artwork ended its journey across Europe with an event hosted by the Port of Rotterdam and RFF at APM Terminals Maasvlakte II. The event was attended by local dignitaries, as well as Hans Augusteijn, Global Head of Logistics and Services Execution, and Jan Buijze, Managing Director of APM Terminals Maasvlakte II, both whom delivered a keynote address.
“As one of the world’s first carbon-neutral container terminals, APM Terminals Maasvlakte II was a logical choice for the final destination on Noah’s Train European tour,” mentioned Jan Buijze
From there, one container will be transferred from the terminals dedicated cargo rail track onto Laust Maersk and head to Santiago de Chile, where the next United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP25) will begin on December 2nd.
The event was a celebration of all the accomplishments Noah’s Train has made in the past year. So far, the campaign has reached more than four million people, who recognised the train and are now aware of the rail freight transport’s ability of climate protection as well as the coalition’s goal of shifting 30% of freight to rail until 2030 in order to save CO2 and protecting the climate.
On the landside we can also play a role, and this is why Maersk and APM Terminals strongly supports The Rail Freight Forward coalition’s goal of increasing the railway’s share in freight transport from its current level of 18% to 30% by 2030
Our commitment to sustainability
As a global integrated company of container logistics, Maersk does its outmost to meet customers transport and sustainable end-to-end needs by providing them with multiple product offerings.
“Rail is a fast, flexible and sustainable way to carry cargo that’s becoming an important additional transportation option to give customers more flexibility in their supply chain,” stated Hans Augusteijn “In 2019, Maersk experienced double-digit growth in rail based on strong customer support for this service and we forecast a steady growth for the years to come as we are constantly looking at options to further expand the service we offer our customers and how to best differentiate our product offering,” he added.
Maersk’s inland transportation services include one of the strongest rail connections in the industry. As a dedicated service or as part of a multi modal solution, rail offers faster time-to-market than ocean at substantially lower cost than air freight. It also produces up to 9 times less CO2 than road haulage, which is often the logical alternative.
Not all emissions in the supply chain are directly under Maersk control. In the part of the supply chain we operate, around two thirds of Maersk’s total emissions still come from our own operations and 98% of these come from our fleet. Therefore, the first phase of our decarbonizing journey lays under implementing sustainable solutions to our vessels. This requires a total shift in propulsion technologies and by 2030 we need to see the first commercially viable carbon neutral vessels in service. That’s only 11 years from now. This is a game changer that requires close collaboration and joint action.
“On the landside we can also play a role, and this is why Maersk and APM Terminals strongly supports The Rail Freight Forward coalition’s goal of increasing the railway’s share in freight transport from its current level of 18% to 30% by 2030,” said Hans.
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