Dutch shipowners and yards are teaming up to develop methanol as a fuel for ships.
Boskalis, Van Oord and Wagenborg Shipping have formed Green Maritime Methanol (GMM) to work with shipbuilders Damen Shipyards, Feadship and Royal IHC to study the feasibility of the green fuel.
Engine makers Pon Power and Wartsila are also involved, together with their trade association VIV, and the Dutch navy.
Specialised marine equipment suppliers sucxhMarine Service Noord and maritime service providers including C-Job Naval Architects complete the supply chain.
Work to study the infrastructure and supply chain for methanol is also addressed by the participation of the country's two largest ports, Rotterdam and Amsterdam, as well as methanol suppliers BioMCN and Helm Proman and trade organisation The Methanol Institute, supported by Maritime Knowledge Centre.
The GMM project is backed by TKI Maritime and the Netherlands ministry of economic affairs and will be completed within two years.
Research institutes including TNO, TU Delft, NLDA and Marin are also helping by studying operational profiles, ship and engine configurations, performances and various emissions.
"Together the consortium partners — which include all the main stakeholders in the transport supply chain — bring extensive experience and knowledge which will help to make this project a success," said Pieter Boersma, business director of maritime and offshore of TNO.
"As part of the project, the partners will look at concrete possibilities to adopt methanol as marine fuel on either newbuilds or conversions of the existing fleet."
In December, NYK Line said it would use a green loan to part-fund the newbuilding costs of its first methanol-fuelled chemical tanker, which is on order in South Korea.
The 49,000-dwt ship is under construction at Hyundai Mipo Dockyard and is scheduled to be handed over during 2019.
NYK said it will receive a 10-year ¥2bn ($18m) loan from Taiyo Life Insurance Co.
