RFP 1

In September 2023, ZEMBA launched a collective tender for the environmental attributes associated with up to 3.5 billion twenty-foot containers (TEU)- nautical miles (nm) of zero-emission (ZE) shipping services over a three-year period.

The tender was the first major buyer-led initiative aiming to accelerate the commercial deployment of new ZE maritime fuels and technologies, and seeking to help ZEMBA members considerably reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the near term while sending a demand signal for the further development of scalable ZE solutions. Through this first tender, climate-leading freight buyers for the first time demonstrated a willingness to pay for scalable ZE shipping solutions above and beyond current market offerings and what’s required by regulation.

For the tender, ZEMBA developed a multifaceted RFP 1 Sustainability Framework which helped guide bidders in development of qualifying bids. ZEMBA’s RFP 1 Sustainability Framework can be found below.

Global container shipping company Hapag-Lloyd won the first ZEMBA tender. Hapag-Lloyd is one of the world’s leading container liner shipping companies with a fleet of 266 vessels with a capacity of 2 million TEU that service over 600 ports on all continents. Through their bid, Hapag-Lloyd was able to meet the full aggregated volume of ZEMBA’s original tender and met all of ZEMBA’s primary criteria in the RFP 1 Sustainability Framework.