The growth of the world’s economy and the increase in the world’s population have led to constant increases in goods flows and a rise in the demand for energy. On the open seas, container ships, tankers and freighters handle around 95 per cent of trans-continental goods transport. Diesel power plants provide electricity and heat to people in even the remotest corners of the world. This is all only possible thanks to the diesel engine, still the most efficient thermal engine in existence.

Just how efficient this is can be seen from the following figures: shipping is responsible for handling the lion’s share of the world’s goods flows, amounting to around 7.7 billion tonnes of goods each year (2008). That said, it generates only three per cent of the world’s anthropogenic CO2 emissions. The entire transport sector (including road and air transport), on the other hand, generates 27 per cent of all the CO2 emissions created by humans.

This makes marine transport, per tonne and per transport kilometre, by far the most eco-friendly means of transporting goods from A to B in terms of consumption and emissions. Although the volume of freight has fallen following the current economic crisis, all experts agree that the global transport of goods will continue to grow on long-term. The same goes for the demand for power. The economic growth of many countries, for instance in South America or the Middle East, has been limited due to an acute lack of power. New energy generation plants are urgently needed.

To ensure that the environment does not suffer unduly as a result of these developments, our topmost priority is to make our products sustainable. MAN Diesel & Turbo two- and four-stroke engines for ships and power plants are today cleaner than ever before. Innovative turbocharger technology is also making engines more efficient and, thanks to our retrofits available from our after sales brand MAN PrimeServ, we are even bringing engines that are decades old up to date with the latest technology.