MOL and NIES kick off joint study on ship fuel

Japanese shipping major Mitsui O.S.K. Lines (MOL) and the country’s National Institute for Environmental Studies (NIES) have launched a joint study on ship fuel to contribute to the safe operation of machinery on vessels.

For this study, MOL and NIES will collaborate to conduct fuel quality analysis and research for the safe operation of machinery on vessels over a period of about three years.

The aim of the study is also to develop a database of such results, which would help to predict environmental impacts in terms of different fuel quality and characteristics and reduce risks of oil leakage.

What is more, the collaboration will be extended to cover one of the alternative clean fuels – biofuel.

By engaging in this study, MOL also plans to collaborate with big data in the Bunker Hub, a fuel oil and lubricant analysis result management system developed and operated by MOL Technology Research Center.

Finally, the shipping company wants to contribute to technological improvement and safe operation in the maritime cluster and promote the development of the maritime industry by utilizing its accumulated analysis results and data.

Some of the company’s recent activities related to ship fuels include sea trials of Panamax bulk carrier using biofuel.

About 500 tons of International Sustainability & Carbon Certification (ISCC) certified biofuel from Chevron Singapore was bunkered on the vessel at the Port of Singapore in late June.

To remind, last year, MOL Group revealed its new environmental strategy, MOL Group Environmental Vision 2.1, positioning biofuel as an effective alternative to fossil fuels.

Soon after publishing the revised strategy, MOL’s wholly-owned subsidiary Euro Marine Logistics N.V. conducted sea trials of its operated car carrier, the City Of Oslo, using biofuel.

Earlier this year, bunkering vessel Techno Star, owned by MOL Techno-Trade, was successfully operated using biodiesel fuel (BDF) supplied by Aburatou Shoji K.K.

At the end of March, Japanese MOL and its group company MOL Ferry completed the country’s first sea trial of a large ferry using renewable diesel fuel.

The shipping company and its unit MOL Chemical Tankers (MOLCT) also signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Trafigura and TFG Marine for a joint study on the full-scale supply of BDF for MOLCT-operated vessels in bunkering ports around the world.

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