DP World wins two new sustainability awards

DP World has won two new awards at the 2024 SEAL Business Sustainability Awards which honours leadership, innovation, and commitment to sustainable business practices.

SEAL Sustainability Awards honorees ranged from well-recognized brands to high-growth start-ups and scale-ups. DP World’s first win – Environmental Initiative Award – was given to DP World Santos for its re-use of waste material for energy, which would otherwise be destined for a landfil site.

DP World was also honoured for its development of BOXBAY, a revolutionary automated, safe and environmentally friendly high-bay storage container system. The SEAL Sustainable Innovation Award recognises BOXBAY’s potential to transform the way containers are stacked, organised and moved, significantly reducing a terminal’s carbon emissions impact.

DP World Group Chairman and CEO, Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem, said: "We are honoured to receive the Environmental Initiatives Award and the Sustainable Innovation Award at this year's SEAL Awards. Winning the Environmental Initiatives Award for our work at DP World Santos in Brazil, where we've achieved the feat of reusing 100% of the waste generated at the port, underscores DP World's commitment to the responsible management of its waste through adopting circular economy principles and smart design.

Additionally, being recognised with the SEAL Sustainable Innovation Award for our BOXBAY technology is a testament to our dedication to revolutionising container port logistics for greater efficiency and sustainability."

Since taking over operations at the Port of Santos in 2013, DP World has become Brazil’s leading multipurpose port operator, capable of simultaneously handling containers, cellulose, grains and fertilizers, with the capacity to handle 1.4 million TEUs and more than 5 million tonnes of cargo.

In 2022, it became the first port terminal in Brazil to minimise the amount of waste sent to landfills under its Aterro Zero project, which turns all non-recyclable waste generated on site into sustainable energy for existing industry activities.

Since then, waste such as cellulose and patio sweeping, toilet paper and organic materials have been transformed into fuel for cement kilns, using an energy reuse technology called CDRU.

DP World developed BOXBAY in a joint venture with German industrial engineering specialists SMS group, as a solution to some of the key challenges in container port logistics, combining increased efficiency with environmental targets.

Piloted in Dubai’s Jebel Ali Port, the massive steel structure like a bookshelf for containers. As well as reducing the required yard space by 60%, the system eliminates the unproductive reshuffling moves seen in conventional storage systems. And thanks to full automation, quayside trans-shipment speeds can be increased by up to 20%, while the use of solar power generated by photovoltaic panels on the roof of the storage system, and power regeneration when containers are lowered, also means it can run in a CO2-neutral way.