United European Car Carriers (UECC) is launching a major liquefied biomethane (LBM) bunkering operation for its ships in Belgium this month.
Also known as bio-LNG, the green fuel will be supplied by Titan Clean Fuels.
The NYK-backed Norwegian shipowner said Titan will bunker LBM to all of UECC’s LNG dual-fuel car carriers at Zeebrugge as part of its “Green Gas Month”.
The pure car/truck carriers will use 100% LBM.
Due to the biomethane waste feedstock, the greenhouse gas emissions reduction potential is “significant”, the owner said.
In July, UECC calculates that well-to-wake emissions will be cut by more than 8,000 tonnes of CO2-equivalent.
The reductions generated will be available to UECC customers through a CO2 registry that it opened in January.
The company says the registry allows it to transfer the environmental benefits of clean fuel use to charterers in a transparent, traceable and independently verified manner across its entire supply chain.
Unlike other green fuels, LBM is frequently being introduced at scale right now, UECC added.
Depending on the feedstock, LBM can be net zero on greenhouse gas emissions, or even net negative, if the avoided emissions of waste are taken into account, the company argues.
The next phase of the project will be the introduction of e-methane, produced using renewable electricity and electrolysis.
Car makers ‘progressive’ on fuel
Daniel Gent, energy & sustainability manager at UECC, said: “With progressive automakers focusing on cleaner cars, we expect them to want to reduce their Scope 3 emissions and ship those cars sustainably — which is what we can deliver in collaboration with Titan right now.”
Flip Dankelman, a trader at Titan, added: “We are pleased to be working with UECC on these major LBM bunkerings and hope these are the first of many more clean-fuel operations with them.”
In March, TradeWinds reported that shells from cashew nuts are being used to make biofuel in a new project involving UECC.
The company is part of a collaboration with technology firm Wartsila, Lloyd’s Register’s fuel business and Dutch biofuel supplier ACT Group.
Last year, UECC took delivery of sustainable biofuel to a chartered ship for the first time.
The move, in collaboration with Dutch biofuel provider GoodFuels and UECC co-owner NYK, involved 470 tonnes of B30 blend of very low-sulphur fuel oil and sustainable biofuel being supplied to the 41,000-gt Emerald Leader (built 2007) in Vlissingen.
