The head of the world's fifth-largest shipping company Hapag-Lloyd, is looking at the option of nuclear drives for its container ships to achieve climate targets.
"Nuclear reactors have a certain potential because they can make an important contribution to decarbonization," Rolf Habben Jansen told the German newspaper Der Spiegel in an article published on Friday.
The costs would probably be acceptable and the ships could also travel a little faster again. "I am of the opinion that this should not be ruled out until it has been thoroughly investigated."
Hapag-Lloyd is aiming for complete decarbonization by 2045. In order to reduce fuel costs and CO2 emissions, the company's fleet has already been travelling at an average of 1.0 to 1.5 knots slower for more than a year and a half, Habben Jansen said recently.
Up until now the shipping company has focussed on evaluating and procuring lower carbon fuels such as "green" methanol.
Habben Jansen said that it could be a long time before it was known whether nuclear propulsion is actually a realistic option. "Maybe we won't know until next decade," he said in the interview, but added that developments with the technology were encouraging. "Modern nuclear molten salt reactors are not comparable with such large facilities as those on military aircraft carriers."
Hapag-Lloyd says it has 266 container ships and an annual transport volume of 11.9 million standard containers.