Tag: alternative fuels

Red Funnel, a UK ferry operator, has been testing the use of biofuel in its ferries for nine months, but the company commented that although biofuel can be burnt, supply and legislation issues mean that the fuel is not currently viable for them. 

Brazilian Petrobras informed that it will carry out tests starting in June, aiming to evaluate the production of 2020 sulphur cap compliant fuel. As the company said, it does not know the exact viscosity, but it expects it to be lower. During April, Petrobras produced its first set of 0.5% sulphur fuel oil, from its Isaac Sabba refinery in Manaus. The fuel had 0.34% sulphur content, viscosity of 323cst at 50°C and density of 932.7 kg/m3 at 15°C.

Ferry company Norled and the shipyard Westcon have signed a contract for the construction of two new ferries. One of them will be the world's first car ferry that sails on hydrogen and the other will be a battery-powered ferry. The two ferries are expected to be ready in March and May 2021. 

The US Department of Energy approved additional exports of domestically produced natural gas from the Freeport LNG Terminal located on Quintana Island, Texas. The expansion of the Freeport LNG facility is estimated to support up to 3,000 engineering and construction jobs and hundreds of indirect jobs related to the project.

The Green Maritime Methanol consortium has chosen nine vessels for research on the application of renewable methanol as a marine fuel. Namely, new designs, newbuildings, along with existing ships of Boskalis, Van Oord, the Royal Netherlands Navy and Wagenborg Shipping were selected.

The worldwide demand for cleaner shipping fuel could drive the value of Middle East crude to its lowest ever levels, despite fact that supplies are squeezed. This highlights the fact that the 2020 sulphur cap will hurt countries like Saudi Arabia and Iraq that produce high sulphur fuel.

Babcock’s LGE business has been awarded a contract for the LPG cargo handling and Fuel Gas Supply System for the world’s first newbuilding vessel to use LPG as a primary fuel source. The 86,000cbm carrier is being built in China and will be delivered in January 2021. Babcock’s FGSS integrates with the cargo handling system for transfer between the two systems during voyages.

Japan Engine Corporation (J-ENG) announced that it will collaborate with Nippon Yusen Kaisha (NYK Line) to begin the research and development of biofuel. The two parties will use a test engine as one of solutions to achieve decarbonization. This test engine is located in Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Research & Innovation Center and various fuel tests can be performed.

Caribbean-based energy provider Sol Petroleum announced a new offshore bunkering facility off the shores of Trinidad and Grenada to supply vessels in the region with IMO 2020 compliant fuels. The announcement comes as the industry is dependent on reliable fuel supply to protect marine environment. 

Rotterdam Port Fund and NIBC Bank have acquired a majority interest in Rolande, the developer and operator of LNG filling stations and producer of bio-LNG. The transaction is expected to be finalised after completing the relevant approval procedures in the first half of 2019. Bastiaan van der Knaap, managing director of the Rotterdam Port Fund said that the use of LNG as a fuel is a profitable and directly applicable alternative to diesel for the transport sector.