INNOVATION, EFFICIENCY, REDUCTION AND THE ENVIRONMENT SINCE 1974.

1. We collaborate in Aeromarine's R&D project, which combines radar technology and high-definition video processing software, which, coupled with SEA.AI thermal cameras, increases early and differentiated detection of different classes of floating objects compared to any other system on the market. As a result, an automated system is developed in 2024 that enables perimeter surveillance, maritime obstacle tracking and collision prediction. After the pilot test on the Bajamar Express ship, and having detected a significant improvement in vision during navigation, implementation continues on the rest of the fleet. The project is certified within the ‘FORVISION’ framework as a technological innovation and won the opPORTunity 2024 award for technological innovation.
2. We are participating in a pilot project to generate a repository of images with state-of-the-art thermal cameras so that the specialised company Arquimea and the University of La Laguna (ULL) can develop image recognition software that can automatically detect cetaceans. Through this project we collaborate with the Natura 2000 Network in the Spanish marine environment. Running from July 2022 to December 2024, the results obtained highlight the high detection of cetaceans in the new system trained for such purposes compared to other systems.
3. We are also an Associated Partner in the project ‘Atlantic Whale Deal: Mitigating Ship Strikes and Enhancing Carbon Sequestration in the Atlantic’ within the Interreg Atlantic Area 2021-2027 programme. This project, coordinated by ARDITI - Agência Regional para o Desenvolvimento da Investigação, Tecnologia e Inovação, aims to mitigate collisions and protect marine biodiversity through innovative detection technologies, combined with informed decision-making and transnational cooperation. The project will develop detection and localisation techniques, risk maps and interactive tools to reduce collisions and noise pollution. 

At Fred. Olsen Express, we pioneered the elimination of the boarding pass for our passengers in 2014. A revolutionary move that has spread across the industry, simplifying the boarding process and contributing to a more sustainable future.

More than just convenience, this initiative allows us to reduce more than 4 tonnes of paper annually. By the end of 2024, this represents a reduction of some 43 tonnes of total paper since its implementation. It has also encouraged digitalisation in all our work areas, optimising processes and improving the customer experience.

Since 2014, after the elimination of boarding passes, we have championed digitisation, and are committed to what we call our "0 Paper" policy. Our goal: to reduce paper and cardboard consumption in as many procedures as possible.

As a result, we have pioneered the creation of digital tools and solutions that replace paper-based administrative tasks. In turn, we have reduced supplier and employee travel, improving the efficiency of our processes.

We constantly analyse our efforts and so, from 2014 to 2022, we were able to reduce our paper consumption by 74%. Here are some more facts:

• Our travellers consume an average of only 0.4 grams of paper per year, equivalent to less than one sheet of paper.
• Our employees' annual paper consumption is less than one and a half kilos.
• According to data from the Ministry for Ecological Transition, the average annual paper consumption per person in Spain is 176 kg.
• The average paper consumption per worker in Spain is estimated at 46.8 kilos per year.
• A Fred. Olsen Express worker consumes only 4.45% of paper compared to an average worker.
• In Spain, total paper consumption in 2022 was higher than in 2014.

Our Zero Paper policy is a challenge that we continue to work on and in which everyone can participate. We encourage you to join us.

We continue along our path, knowing that we have a long journey ahead of us. So, in 2022, we created a specific area of Innovation for Sustainability at our head office, with the aim of further developing our environmental protection policy and accelerating improvements.

As a company strategy, from 2024 we are committed to the diversification of passenger and freight transport, incorporating two vessels for cargo transport. In this way, the high-speed vessels are used to transport passengers, vehicles and goods that require fast transport, for example, perishable foodstuffs (the cargo model known as ‘just in time’). Goods that do not require such speed are diverted to conventional ferries, known as the ‘just in sequence’ model.

The aim of this diversification is to improve energy efficiency by assigning the most appropriate type of cargo to each vessel. With this strategic commitment, we aim to stay ahead of: 

• Regulations governing all aspects related to greenhouse gas emissions and the measures that shipping companies will have to take over the next few years to reach ZERO emissions by 2050.
• Significant economic amounts that companies will have to pay for their emissions if they do not comply with these new requirements.
• Although the Canary Islands will be exempt from their application until 31 December 2029, from 2030 onwards, companies in the archipelago will have to pay emission rights, as well as penalties in the event of not achieving alternatives that avoid emissions.
   

As a milestone, in 2024 the first of these conventional ships, the RORO Bentayga Cargo, was certified to ISO 14001 environmental management system, which certifies that the company, and specifically this ship, carries out its activity in compliance with the necessary requirements to minimise its footprint and has an effective environmental management system that allows for continuous improvement.

We have replaced all the lighting in our fleet with low-energy light bulbs (LED); we have installed self-consumption solar spotlights (solar panels) on the stairs leading to the ramps and we have implemented the use of AA and AAA rechargeable batteries for wireless equipment, reducing consumption and waste generation.

In addition, we have installed air curtains at the entrances to our ships to prevent cold losses during boarding. We install vinyl stickers on all our windows and skylights, to provide shade, minimise solar radiation and thus reduce the use of air conditioning.

In our machine rooms, which require frequent cooling from high to low temperatures, we have also optimised ventilation and energy consumption by installing regulators that control the speed of the motors that generate energy.

We work on several measures related to optimising the weight of our vessels to reduce our fuel consumption. The lower the weight, the lower the power requirement, which translates into lower emissions. We highlight the following initiatives: 

• Our stowage model. We are committed to a stowage model that consists of studying the best distribution of vehicles in the hold, in order to achieve optimum trimming and reduce consumption.
• We only operate with the spare parts and fuel necessary for the safe development of each day.
• During port stops, we reduce the idling time of the engines to the minimum recommended by the manufacturers.
• Since 2023, we have replaced terminal trolleys and hoists with electric trolleys, reducing our use of fossil fuels.

Since the company was first established, and as part of our company philosophy, we have sought to reduce the consumption of resources in all our processes, by continuously establishing improvements and reviews. In recent years we have implemented the following measures:

• Reduction of paper in tickets issued at terminals, avoiding printing paper tickets by default and switching to the digital solution of sending them by sms. With this measure implemented, in the last quarter of 2024, ticket printing was reduced by 61% compared to the previous period.
• Elimination of paper in on-board records, replacing management control systems in cafeterias, merchandise and cleaning, thus preventing the use of 20 kilos/year of paper.
• Use of QR codes for internal documentation and public information. For example, in 2023, we digitised the documentation of the chemicals we use. Using QR codes, we can quickly access technical and safety data sheets and reduce paper consumption by 23 kilos of paper per year.
• The digitalisation of stock management through the integration of a new platform, which allows us to plan orders, consult inventories and coordinate land transport in a more optimised way.
• Zero paper and digitalisation applied to our administrative and invoicing tasks. Annual reduction of 2 tonnes of paper.
• Elimination of paper-based passenger information, installing screens, removing leaflets and other elements.
• Reduction of printers in our work centres to minimise paper and toner consumption, among others. In 2023, the printers at the head office will be renewed, with equipment made from the waste of other printers. These are certified in energy efficiency*, in addition to minimising their environmental impact throughout their life cycle. *Blue Angel, Energy Star and ECO Declaration certificates for the recyclability of their parts.
• Implementation of ‘hot desking’ in our offices in order to encourage digitalisation and Paper 0.
• Commitment to teleworking and flexible working hours for head office staff, to reduce travel and reduce traffic congestion. 

Our warehouses and cleaning products are equipped with chemical spill prevention kits to prevent water contamination. With the same objective, we use dry connections with anti-drip system for the fuel supply of our entire fleet, to eliminate any risk of fuel spillage.

And, additionally, in 2023, we have launched a new marine water pollution prevention project with the installation of wastewater treatment plants on board some of our ferries. The purpose of these treatment plants is to treat wastewater and they are capable of eliminating possible pollutants present in the water through a series of chemical processes. 

We work to improve waste segregation and encourage awareness of better use of natural resources. For this reason, all our facilities are equipped with recycling stations, they have information panels to encourage correct segregation and bins for individual use have been removed from the work stations of our staff to encourage recycling.

We decided to make our facilities smoke-free to prevent cigarette butts from falling into the sea. Similarly, we remind our clients that it is absolutely forbidden to throw any element into the sea on on-board information media.

To avoid interfering during the key period of the first flights of the fledgling Cory's shearwater (October – November), the ship that stays overnight in Agaete dims its lighting during its approach and stay in port.

In our quest to improve the overall utilisation of the resources we employ, we have implemented special offers in our cafeterias whereby, on the last voyages of the day, we offer fresh produce, in perfect condition, at cost price.

Since 2024, we offer our cargo customers information about the CO₂ emissions corresponding to the transported goods and the journeys made with Fred. Olsen Express. These are externally verified figures, calculated based on the last year in the fast ferries of inter-island transport.

General data on CO₂ emissions per route is also available on the website https://www.fredolsen.es/es/datos-de-emisiones-verificados.

We support the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria and its faculty of Veterinary Medicine, participating in their research on marine fauna and collaborating in transfers for studies and scientific work on cetaceans.

We cannot make this journey without our employees, so we dedicate part of our resources to providing tools that enable them to gain knowledge and reduce their own environmental footprint. These are some of our initiatives:

• We have created a guide to good environmental practices in which we share simple and useful measures to apply in the domestic and professional sphere.
• We communicate to provide information about the organisation's environmental performance and promote staff involvement.
• We work with a quality and monitoring plan, with recurring visits to our work centres, to check the application of the different processes established for continuous reduction and protection.
• We provide training in environmental matters, so that our employees acquire the knowledge and awareness necessary for our continuous improvement. We carry out these training sessions with external companies, universities or through our internal training platforms.

We use our communication channels, which have a potential reach of 3 million people, to support environmental protection and sustainability campaigns. Thus, we have collaborated with SEO Birdlife, in its work of raising awareness about habits and rescue of shearwaters, El Primer Viaje, also to raise awareness about the problem of the Cory's shearwater, or with Telesforo Bravo, in its "Pasa sin huella" campaign.

We have also created the first underwater guide of the Canary Islands to raise awareness of the abundance of our waters and we hold environmental workshops in our facilities for children, as mentioned in previous sections.

Also, in 2023 we launched for the first time a guide for suppliers, customers and travellers on good environmental practices in everyday life, which we recommend to have at hand at all times.

We work to disseminate the Fred. Olsen Express environmental measures among suppliers to raise awareness of good practices and improve the use of natural resources.

Also, in 2023 we launched for the first time a guide for suppliers, customers and travellers on good environmental practices in everyday life, which we recommend to have at hand at all times.

Together with the Fundación Canaria Parque Científico Tecnológico de la Universidad de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, we sponsored the first urban electromobility event on the islands to raise awareness of energy sustainability.

Together with different entities, we organize environmental volunteer days to raise awareness among our employees about the need to protect our environment.

We have carried out reforestation activities, conferences on Canarian flora, seabed clean-ups, coastline clean-ups or the reincorporation of rescued marine fauna into their habitat, such as the release of turtles. All accompanied by authorized entities such as the Cabildo de Tenerife, forest agents or Fénix Canarias.

In 2024 we made a visit to the BRIFOR center in Aguamansa, Tenerife, as part of a forest awareness activity. In it, in addition to learning about their action protocols, we carried out a tree planting in the areas affected by the 2023 forest fire.

Since 2023, we have been asking our main stakeholders to participate in a survey on sustainability, always available on our website https://www.fredolsen.es/es/sostenibilidad. With it, we seek to detect the reasons that are of interest to them in our activity, in addition to knowing their degree of satisfaction with our work.

Regarding environmental management, the areas of interest are marine ecosystems, with a high degree of satisfaction with our management (89%); CO₂ emissions, in which the degree of satisfaction is somewhat lower (77%) and waste management, also with a high figure of satisfaction (89%). These figures have increased in relation to the percentages of the previous year (+3%, +7 and +3% respectively).