French liner giant CMA CGM is to test out biofuel for boxships.
The company is teaming with IKEA Transport & Logistics Services, The GoodShipping Program and the Port of Rotterdam to trial the oil during a vessel bunkering on 19 March.
The "landmark" project marks a major step towards the decarbonisation of ocean freight, the companies said, using second generation biofuel derived from forest residues and waste cooking oil.
The oil has been developed by GoodFuels of the Netherlands, which has previously worked with Samskip and Norden.
After three years of tests, it is expected to deliver 80% to 90% CO2 reduction versus fossil equivalents, and virtually eliminate sulphur oxide (SOx) emissions.
Engines do not need to be modified.
Dirk Kronemeijer, CEO of GoodFuels and The GoodShipping Program, said: “The aim of our programme has always been not only to reduce carbon emissions from shipping, but to show that the means to accelerate the energy transition are already available for the sector to grasp.
"Together we send a very clear message: sustainable biofuels are ready today, and we can meet the pathways laid out by the IMO in a manner that is attractive to major cargo owners such as IKEA.”
Xavier Leclercq, VP at CMA Ships, added: “In a few days, we will be testing second-generation biofuel in one of CMA CGM’s vessels for the first time.
"Having an HFO-equivalent solution in biofuel oil available with no engineering or operational changes required to our vessel offers a safe, manageable and innovative opportunity to facilitate shipping’s wider transition to new fuel solutions.”
LNG also in the mix
TradeWinds cited CMA CGM CEO Rodolphe Saade as saying last week that rival container lines will have to follow it by investing in LNG propulsion systems because it is the technology of the future.
“Scrubbers are for the short term. That is our thinking," he said. "Whereas LNG is the 'motorisation' for the future.”
CMA CGM bucked the trend among other liner operators in 2017 when it placed orders for nine 22,000-teu containerships with LNG technology.
It is expected to build on that by inking an order with CSSC (Hong Kong) Shipping Leasing for up to 10 containerships worth an estimated $1.2bn, to be split between Jiangnan Shipyard and Hudong-Zhonghua Shipbuilding (Group).
Five of those 15,000-teu vessels are expected to be dual-fuel vessels with LNG power, and five will have scrubbers.
Big plans for biofuel
Kronemeijer told TradeWinds last year: "We are ramping up capacity all the time. We have tens of thousands of tonnes available for next year, which has sold out."
It has a Rotterdam plant partially backed by Vitol's Varo Energy.
The ultimate plan is to have millions and millions of tonnes available.
The CEO added: "Think of a tree. The good stuff goes to Ikea to make furniture, and the leaves and branches we make into fuel.
"It's not super hi-tech, it's just a question of the right upgrading, the right additives, the right blend.
"So we have a secret cooking recipe, which is more Coca-Cola than high-tech refining."
