Peel Ports will use greener alternative fuels for straddle carriers and plant equipment across the majority of its estate by 1 April.
Peel Ports have set a target to become a net zero port operator by 2040, acting ahead of the UK government’s change in legislation aimed at restricting the use of red diesels and other rebated biofuels.
The company has started the process to address the carbon emission challenge for its plant and straddle carriers around 12 months ago, and testing with the new fuels started in November last year.
The transfer to greener fuels will see 45% of Peel Ports’ plant equipment fleet moved to Hydrotreated Vegetable Oil (HVO), with 29% to electric throughout 2022. The group is working to move the remainder of its fleet to less polluting fuel alternatives as these become available.
The conversion of 3 million litres of diesel fuel to HVO will mean an annual carbon emission reduction of at least 70%, or 5.5 thousand tonnes, equivalent to taking 4,500 cars off the local roads for the whole year, helping to improve air quality around the ports.
We are working hard to become a greener Port operator and looking into everything we do, making incremental changes to reach our net zero ambitions by 2040. Whilst these transition fuels will offer a temporary improvement, they don’t provide a long-term solution and we are already working with manufacturers and suppliers who are developing the next generation of sustainable land equipment for all our operations
said Lewis McIntyre, Managing Director Ports Services at Peel Ports.
The port group has already replaced 50% of its diesel vans with a new electric fleet in 2021, and has a planned renewal programme to either electrify or convert the rest of the fleet to cleaner fuels by the end of this year.
