Sustainability
Supporting communities and protecting our planet
to deliver long-term value for a sustainable future.
Our planet and societies are facing enormous challenges. Our responsibility is to collaborate with our supply chain and maritime industry partners to overcome these challenges and leave a lasting, positive legacy for future generations. All our actions should ensure we are protecting the planet, supporting our communities and delivering long-term value for all our stakeholders. These are the pillars that drive our sustainability vision.
To think exceptional is not an aspiration; it is a standard that we encourage our team to achieve. This mindset is woven into every aspect of our work, from ship deck painting and anti-skid applications through to pontoon and linkspan resurfacing projects. As a specialist in marine surface treatments, we aim to progress further and continue to demonstrate how a business must operate to realise a sustainable future for all.
85%
Euro 6 plant
vehicles
72%
Hybrid electric
company vehicles
90%
Waste diverted
from landfill
To reduce our environmental impacts, we first needed to understand them. Since 2015, we have recorded and monitored our energy usage across our premises, specialist marine equipment and transport fleet. Our core services, including ship deck painting, anti-skid surfacing and pontoon and linkspan resurfacing, rely on specialist coatings and materials that we assess as part of our ongoing environmental monitoring.
Telematics has played an important role in efficient routing and in helping us to monitor driver behaviour across our vehicles. We have seen the results deliver substantial environmental benefits, with a 7.75% reduction in emissions related to driving yearly and a 12% increase in miles per gallon. We are also directing attention towards the waste streams generated by our marine surface preparation and coating processes, with a focus on diverting materials from landfill. In-office recycling initiatives have been implemented across our sites and we actively seek opportunities to reuse materials wherever it is safe and practical to do so.
We are exploring new ways to reduce our reliance on non-renewable resources. Two of our main depots have solar panels, generating enough electricity to support day-to-day operations as well as feeding surplus energy back into the grid. We have also limited the use of gas heating and each of our buildings now has automatic LED lighting to minimise unnecessary energy consumption.
Across our marine coating operations, we work closely with our supply chain to understand the full lifecycle of the products we specify and apply, from manufacture through to project completion on deck or dockside. Through the wider WJ Group’s product innovation programme, which includes carbon footprint calculators independently verified against recognised international standards, we are increasingly able to specify materials with demonstrable sustainability credentials, giving both us and our clients confidence in the environmental quality of every project we deliver.
Investing for the future is something we are very proud of at WJ Marine. We are committed to adopting and pioneering new technologies and working methods across the marine sectors we serve as part of our decarbonisation journey. This includes developing lower-impact coatings application processes, improving the fuel efficiency of our support vehicles and refining our operational planning to reduce unnecessary movements to and from project sites.
Looking ahead, we have plans to achieve net zero operationally by 2032 through setting a science-based target. This aligns with the UN Sustainable Development Goals and reflects our commitment as part of the wider WJ Group to a genuinely sustainable future for our business and the environments in which we operate.
Creating efficient value is fundamental to operating sustainably. This benefits the environment and also allows us to deliver greater overall value to our clients across ship deck, pontoon and marine infrastructure projects. Our approach targets both the embedded carbon within the materials we apply and the operational carbon generated during our on-site processes, from surface preparation through to final coating.
We have targets to work towards net zero and contribute to a circular economy in collaboration with our value chain, alongside responsible governance aligned with the global Sustainable Development Goals. To create value efficiently, we must consistently innovate and improve our equipment, processes, behaviours and partnerships across every dimension of how WJ Marine operates.
Value must be created meaningfully, which is why our approach to sustainability extends well beyond operational efficiency to encompass a broader range of social and environmental considerations. This principle runs through our ship deck painting and pontoon resurfacing services, where improved processes and careful materials selection allow us to complete projects with reduced waste, less disruption to vessel operations and a smaller overall impact on the surrounding marine environment.
Through the wider WJ Group’s commitment to technology-led innovation, we benefit from a culture of continuous improvement that influences how we approach every aspect of our marine operations. As a business, we understand our responsibility to the port communities, harbour operators and maritime clients we serve, and we apply a social value model to measure the positive impact our activities are generating across the UK.
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