Langh Ship teams up with Samskip to switch to biofuel on its boxship

In a move to further reduce the environmental impact of their vessels, Finnish shipping company Langh Ship and Dutch multimodal operator Samskip have agreed to switch to biofuel operations.

The companies said they switched to biofuel operations for the Langh Ship-owned 750 TEU container vessel Edith in January 2023. The vessel is currently employed on a shortsea liner service between the Netherlands and the UK.

Laura Langh-Lagerlöf, Managing Director of Langh Ship, explained that the transition to biofuel will have a decisive impact to comply with the new IMO regulations for improving the short-term energy efficiency of vessels and reducing their greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.

“We used to operate the vessel on low sulphur, intermediate fuel oil, IFO 80. A main advantage of changing to biofuel is that it generates no fossil carbon emissions. Therefore, we are able to comply with the new carbon intensity indicator (CII) regulations”, Laura said.

Samskip and Langh Ship list the reduced need for maintenance of the fuel system and the lubricating oil staying cleaner as another benefit of the clean and completely sulphur-free biofuel.

“The feedback from the vessel has been nothing but positive. Generally, we think that the maintenance costs for the main engine will decrease due to cleaner fuel. We expect less wear on cylinder barrels and the piston ring area, but this can of course be verified only later through experience”, Laura explained.

“We think it is essential to have many alternative ways of tackling CO2 emissions. Biofuel allows ship owners to reduce the environmental impact by not having to invest in modifications to the vessel engine room and funnel area. But since biofuel is a limited resource, it is good to look into parallel solutions as well, such as exhaust gas treatment and carbon capture”, she concludes.

Following biofuel trials in 2019, Samskip has gradually increased the number of ships in its fleet running the main engines with biofuel. Including Edith, there are now five vessels in the Samskip-fleet operation on biofuel. Bunkering of all vessels takes place in Rotterdam.

The fuel used is designated MDF1-100 and supplied by GoodFuels. It is formulated entirely from sustainable waste streams from the EU’s Renewable Energy Directive list. It has also earned International Sustainability & Carbon Certification.

“Reducing environmental impact is important to us, and we are glad to cooperate with Langh Ship in these matters. With Edith’s transition to biofuel, we are able to lower the overall carbon footprint of our transports even further”, said Rene van Wijngaarden, Manager Vessel Chartering & Bunkering of Samskip.