Bauxite loading onto ship at export facility, Weipa Operations

Marine and logistics

230

Chartered ships

17

Owned ships

2,700

Voyages per year

Our Marine team uses its expertise, scale, and global communication network to charter and operate a fleet of more than 230 ships to transport over 300 million tonnes of product every year, making us the largest dry bulk shipper in the world. Our fleet connects our products with the global economy and moves a range of commodities – including iron ore, bauxite and minerals – across multiple continents.

We also own a fleet of 17 vessels, which are managed and crewed by Anglo Eastern Limited and ASP Ship Management Limited.

We are committed to high maritime operational and safety standards, and adhere to all applicable maritime laws and regulations across our owned and chartered ships, including the Maritime Labour Convention.

Safety and seafarer welfare

Nothing is more important than the safety and wellbeing of our employees, contractors and communities. Given the scale of our operations, we are uniquely placed to lead the maritime shipping industry in safety and crew welfare.

In 2001, we established RightShip, a joint-venture with BHP and Cargill, which increases transparency and improve maritime safety and environmental standards by helping customers identify, manage and eliminate risks in the marine supply chain.

This year, we are bringing together other like-minded partners to implement the Designated Owners and Operators Standard initiative. It’s the first initiative of its kind for the dry bulk industry, uplifting safety and crew welfare standards by drawing on industry-recognised best practice, including the Dry Bulk Management Standard (DryBMS) and Sustainable Shipping Initiative (SSI)’s crew welfare self-assessment framework.

We are also using technology to improve the safety outcomes of our operations. A digital tool called SAIL (Safety Assessment by Intelligent Learning) is helping us centralise and analyse data to vet robustness, supplement existing RightShip vetting processes, and minimise sub-standard vessels in our fleet.

We were also a founding signatory to the Global Maritime Forum’s (GMF) Neptune Declaration on Seafarer Wellbeing and Crew Change.

Diversity and inclusion at sea

Women represent 1.2 per cent of the global seafarer workforce, and this number is growing. Through our commitment to Everyday Respect, we’re rolling out initiatives across our organisation to make our marine fleets more inclusive and safe for all genders. We’ve begun making changes to our vessels to improve physical and psychological safety on board. We provide staple hygiene products supplies, allocate individual laundry bags for shared facilities, provide separate male and female locker rooms, and use CCTV to monitor gym and laundry room hallways.

We’re also members of the All Aboard Alliance, a Global Maritime Forum initiative that brings together industry leaders to promote gender equality at sea.

Decarbonising shipping

We have already reduced our owned and chartered fleet’s emissions with more efficient vessels, weather routing and schedule optimisation, which will help us exceed the International Maritime Organization’s 2030 targets of a 40% carbon intensity reduction by 2025.

Through to 2024, we’ll further reduce our owned fleet’s emissions by 10% or more by applying high-performance paints to ships' hulls to reduce friction, modifying propellers, and integrating swirl ducts that enhance water inflow to the propellers.

We’ve also invited and received over 70 submissions from technology companies, research institutions and others to collaborate with us to boost efficiency. We’re exploring transitional fuels, welcoming the first Newcastlemax dual-fuelled liquified natural gas (LNG) vessels to our fleet. And we’re running one of the maritime industry’s longest trials of biofuel with bp.

Marine shipping involves complex supply chains. So for decarbonisation to be successful, it is vital to coordinate the whole supply chain to state ambitions, partner, and provide access to incentives supporting the transition. We’re working towards that in a few ways, like participating in the First Movers Coalition, partnering to develop an ammonia-fuelled vessel design and ammonia supply chain, and joining a consortium led by the Global Maritime Forum to study the development of the ammonia powered Australia-East Asia iron ore Green Corridor, one of the world’s largest shipping routes.

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Marine Decarbonisation
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