Swire Shipping: 3 ships serving the Pacific Islands switch to biofuel

Singapore-based shipping company Swire Shipping revealed that three of its vessels serving the South Pacific have made the switch to B24 and B30 second-generation biofuel blends.

As explained, the voluntary move supports Swire Shipping’s long-term sustainability ambitions and will provide more options to the company’s clients looking to reduce their emissions.

The three vessels involved in the biofuel program are Apia Chief and Tonga Chief on the Pacific Weekly Express (PWX) service running direct calls from Southeast Asia to Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, New Caledonia and Fiji, and Kokopo Chief on the East Timor (ETS) service which provides direct service every 10 days between Singapore, Dili, Darwin and Surabaya. The vessels will bunker B24 in Singapore in Q2 2025 en route to the South Pacific, and subsequently transition to B30.

“The island nations of the South Pacific are particularly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, and this move marks an important step in our ongoing efforts to reduce emissions and support a cleaner, greener shipping industry,” Jeremy Sutton, Swire Shipping’s Chief Executive Officer, commented.

In related news, Pacific nations recently reiterated their support for a global greenhouse gas price in shipping that would drive rapid emissions reduction and incentivize the uptake of zero-emission fuels. The revenue it generates needs to enable a just and equitable transition, according to these nations.

The biofuel program brings together Swire Shipping and its sister company, Argent Energy, a waste-based biofuel producer, achieving synergies within the Swire Group to meet the shared goal of delivering sustainable energy solutions to customers. The collaboration includes an agreement with BP, a supplier of biofuel in Singapore, to explore new feedstocks for marine fuel.

“This successful biofuel programme highlights what can be achieved through strong international partnerships, all united by the common goal of decarbonisation. It has been especially rewarding to work alongside our sister company and other partners to accelerate the use of waste derived biofuels. We look forward to continuing our collaborative efforts, with sustainability at the centre of all we do,” Louise Calviou, Argent Energy’s Chief Executive Officer, said.

With the launch of its biofuel program, Swire Shipping will also launch a carbon abatement program, Voyage to Zero, to help customers decarbonise their supply chains. Participating customers will receive certificates of emission savings, verified by an independent third party, towards the reduction of their Scope 3 emissions.

“Swire Shipping has ambitious voluntary targets for reduction of emissions by 2027. The biofuel programme is a significant milestone in our decarbonisation roadmap, and with Voyage to Zero we are able to offer greater support to customers looking to decarbonise their supply chains. In this first year, the impact of the programme will be comparable to removing 2,700 cars from the road,” Susana Germino, Chief Sustainability & Energy Transition Officer, Swire Shipping, commented.

In August 2024, Swire Shipping conducted a second-generation biofuel B24 trial which allowed the company to test operational readiness to adopt biofuels on its owned vessels for the long term.

MV Suva Chief, a containership on the Sun Chief Express Ocean service, was bunkered in Hong Kong with sustainable B24 biofuel, a blend of sustainable biodiesel of waste origin and conventional fuels. The trial was conducted in partnership with Hong Kong-based marine fuel supplier, Chimbusco Pan Nation Petro-Chemical (CPN), and Swire Shipping’s bunkering partner, the Hafnia Bunker Alliance.