Capital, LR to advance marine biofuels research in new pilot project

Greek ship management company Capital Ship Management (Capital) and classification society Lloyd’s Register (LR) have agreed to trial the use of biofuels in a new pilot project to support the maritime industry’s research for low to zero-carbon fuels.

The trial is said to be in line with the International Maritime Organisation’s (IMO) greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reduction targets.

Under the project, biofuel-blended marine fuel will be tested on Capital managed 300,000 dwt crude tanker, Appollonas.

For its part, LR Maritime Performance Services (MPS) team will facilitate the risk assessment of the operational impact of biofuel, orchestrate the development, implementation and calculation of the emissions monitoring programme as well as provide overall third-party verification of the trial.

LR’s Fuel Oil Bunker Analysis Service (FOBAS) will also carry out the biofuel quality assessment and characterisation to cover all aspects of the new fuel management.

Nick Brown, LR Group’s CEO said: “There is a keen interest in the shipping industry to learn more about the use of biofuels as we navigate the IMO’s GHG ambitions, specifically the potential for emissions reduction, compatibility with existing bunkering technologies and associated costs.”

Nikolaos Vaporis, Capital’s CTO added: “We support research on various decarbonisation solutions such as the use of biofuels, as part of our commitment to contribute to the industry’s carbon footprint reduction, in line with the IMO GHG emissions reduction agenda. We are especially pleased to participate in this project, as it is an opportunity to work with LR and remain at the forefront of environmental innovation.”

In order to support its sustainability strategy, Capital has also signed a landmark agreement with the classification society American Bureau of Shipping (ABS).

Under the agreement, Capital will deploy ABS’s digitalisation and decarbonisation platform that integrates data to provide AI-driven insights for sustainable operations and reduced operational risks.

As described, environmental insights provide visibility into the impact of daily decisions on the vessel’s carbon footprint and allow for the identification of improvement options for maintaining a sustainable fleet.

Operational insights provide actionable intelligence to improve fuel efficiency, reduce carbon intensity and optimise vessel performance.

The agreement is the latest investment by Capital towards decarbonising its operations, following the announcement securing ABS notations and recognising investment in decarbonisation technologies for its newbuild orders for medium-range tankers.

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