A new monthly shipping service organised by fine art logistics company Crozier in collaboration with Christie’s promises a more environmentally friendly solution for arts organisations sending work overseas.
The service will send a number of bespoke containers on board ships that sail between New York and London once a month and London and Hong Kong once every two months. The estimated door-to-door travel time for these journeys, including loading containers and customs checks, is six weeks between London and New York and ten weeks between London and Hong Kong. Each shipment will reserve 60% of space for use by Christie’s with the remaining avaialable for Crozier clients.
Compared with air freight, by far the most popular choice for international art shipping, transporting works by sea offers an 80% reduction in carbon emissions.
Tom Woolston, the global head of operations at Christie’s, says in a statement: “Christie’s continues to work to find more sustainable business solutions and is pleased to collaborate with Crozier on this initiative, which has significant potential to expand. Reducing carbon emissions continues to be a guiding principle in our business practices so this is an important step in our pledge to reach net zero by 2030.”
