Over recent weeks, both BHP and FMG have made considerable headway in their respective journeys to decarbonise the shipping industry.

BHP announced a partnership with DNV that will use cloud platform Veracity to track greenhouse gas emissions from the miner's chartered vessels.

This is significant, because it will let BHP measure the scope 3 emissions associated with its mined materials during transport and look to opportunities to reduce them.

The technology will use a combination of automatic and manual reporting to calculate emissions associated with BHP's iron ore business when the product is being transported.

It puts transparency first, while also allowing BHP to then consider options in reducing emissions.

BHP head of marine sustainability and supply chain excellence Sarah Greenough noted the miner recently announced a company wide commitment to reach net zero scope 3 emissions by 2050.

"DNV's Veracity platform will be a key enabler in our maritime decarbonisation journey," she said.  

"Veracity creates visibility and assurance of the GHG emissions reported by vessel owners and operators in our supply chain."

"The platform will enable us to have more targeted conversations on decarbonisation and compliance, analyse performance against industry benchmarks and measure progress towards our Scope 3 goals."

The technology will be used across all of BHP's freight and shipping operations.

Separately, Fortescue Metals Group recently made headway with its own decarbonisation plans in shipping.

It took ownership of a 75-metre supply vessel and plans to convert it to run on green ammonia.

FMG chairman Andrew Forrest has also made a move to watch, with his investment vehicle Tattarang taking a stake worth $54 million in shipbuilder Austal.

Austal is looking at building battery-operated ships, and large LNG-capable ferries.