Nokian Tyres has made a commitment to the not-for-profit Baltic Sea Action Group (BSAG) covering, 2023–2026, to cooperate on BSAG's Ship Waste Action initiative.
The goal of the initiative is to establish an operating model in which wastewater from cargo ships is discharged on shore in the harbor and the utilization of nutrients is enabled by circular economy solutions.
"The discharge of wastewater from cargo ships into the sea is still legal, and many shippers may not even know that wastewater from their transports is likely to end up in the Baltic Sea. We want to contribute to changing this practice. Discharging wastewater from marine transports to land reduces the environmental burden of our supply chain and contributes to our sustainability work," says Teppo Huovila, VP Quality and Sustainability at Nokian Tyres.
"With our commitment, we require the cargo ships under direct shipping company contracts to discharge wastewaters in the reception facilities in Finnish ports. We also advise the forwarding agents to follow the same rule/principle when handling our cargo. Ship Waste Action is one of the criteria influencing the selection of freight carriers in our future freight tenders," Huovila says.
Nokian Tyres is also promoting a circular economy regarding ship waste with its shipping companies, freight forwarders and other contractual partners, both within and beyond the Baltic.
"Nokian Tyres transports cargo on all the world's most important shipping routes, so this commitment affects the operations of several shipping companies, ships and ports. Nokian Tyres’ measures serve as an example and fuels other companies that use sea transport to promote responsible shipping," says Mia Hytti, Project Manager in Marine Traffic at BSAG.