Chimbusco Pan Nation wraps up its first biofuel delivery in Singapore

November 7, 2024, by Sara Kosmajac

Hong Kong-based bunker service provider Chimbusco Pan Nation Petro-Chemical (CPN) delivered 1,000 metric tons of B24 marine biofuel for Taiwan-based shipping company Yang Ming Marine Transport Corporation’s 145,400 dwt containership YM Witness.

As informed, the vessel—built at South Korea’s Ulsan shipyard—was bunkered with the biofuel in Singapore on October 16, 2024.

According to information from London-based data provider VesselsValue, YM Witness features a length of 368 meters, a beam of 51 meters, and a draft of 16 meters, and is fitted with exhaust gas cleaning systems (EGCS), otherwise known as ‘scrubbers‘.

Yang Ming opted to switch to the use of sustainable marine fuel earlier this year. The company began its collaboration with CPN in March 2024, with the first vessel—the 22,000 dwt YM Inception—bunkered with biofuel on March 7 in Hong Kong and the second one, the 81,100 dwt YM Masculinity, the following day in Singapore, making the New Panamax YM Witness the third in this series.

As explained, the ISCC-EU certified used cooking oil methyl esther-based (UCOME) B24 biofuel is a blend of 24% B100 biodiesel—believed to slash carbon dioxide emissions by around 84% —and marine fuel oil. This is considered to ‘significantly’ cut down on carbon dioxide emissions and lower the vessels’ carbon footprint.

CPN has highlighted that this type of fuel is also in line with global environmental initiatives.

In recent times CPN’s B24 biofuel has been sought by numerous companies seeking to push their zero-emission efforts further. Two years after the completion of its ‘first-ever’ biofuel bunkering trial, on August 16, 2024, Hong Kong’s container shipping company Orient Overseas Container Line (OOCL) wrapped up its first biofuel bunkering operation alongside CPN.

Just a few weeks before that, CPN and Singapore’s Swire Shipping, part of Swire Group, joined hands on a sustainable B24 trial on the company’s transpacific service. The bunkering was done on the company’s MV Suva Chief boxship, alongside Swire’s bunkering partner, the Hafnia Bunker Alliance.