Japanese airlines are trying to boost domestic passenger numbers by offering the reassurance of PCR testing at low cost. The move comes as the coronavirus pandemic continues to hurt their bottom line.
In September 2020 the giant container vessel Jacques Saadé, owned by French shipping group CMA CGM, set out on a roughly 80-day maiden voyage from Europe to Asia and back.
There’s nothing unusual in that, except that this brand-new 400-metre-long vessel is the first ultra large container ship to be fuelled entirely by liquefied natural gas (LNG), a low-emission fossil fuel that so far has only powered much smaller vessels.
In the next few years the Jacques Saadé will be joined by eight sister ships. But looking further to the future, the engines on these vessels will be able to run on zero-emission fuels – as they become available in the coming decade. This is a race with profound consequences for the planet, and even Big Oil is joining in. ExxonMobil, for example, is working with Synthetic Genomics to develop algae into a viable biofuel for transport. The goal is to produce 10,000 barrels a day – equivalent to 3.65 million barrels a year – by 2025. “With continued brea
Japanese airlines are trying to boost domestic passenger numbers by offering the reassurance of PCR testing at low cost. The move comes as the coronavirus pandemic continues to hurt their bottom line.