MOL’s subsidiary tests biofuel on a car carrier

Belgium-based Euro Marine Logistics N.V., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Japanese MOL, has started sea trials of its operated car carrier, the City Of Oslo, using biofuel.

EML signed a deal for biofuel supply with GoodFuels, and about 370 tons of biofuel were bunkered on the vessel at the Dutch port of Flushing.

The GoodFuels’ biofuel can be used on vessels without changing engine specifications, and has the potential to become an environment-friendly alternative fuel. It is virtually free of sulphur oxides and deliver 80 to 90% well-to exhaust CO2 reduction versus fossil fuel equivalents.

Biofuels are considered to be carbon-neutral because the carbon dioxide absorbed by the source of the biomass is equal to the carbon dioxide released when the fuel is burned. 

The company joins multiple shipowners which are testing biofuels on their ships as a way of cutting carbon emissions. Some of the most recent projects saw ONE and Stolt Tankers team up with GoodFuels.

Furthermore, MOL’s compatriot NYK recently conducted a trial use of biofuel made from waste cooking oil collected and refined in Singapore.

The trial ship-to-ship (STS) bunkering for the bulker Frontier Jacaranda was performed at the Port of Singapore on 11 June 2021, in cooperation with mining company Anglo American and biofuel supplier Toyota Tsusho.

Biofuel is positioned as an effective alternative to fossil fuels in the MOL Group’s new environmental strategy ‘MOL Group Environmental Vision 2.1′.

Under its revised vision, the company has set sights on reducing GHG emissions intensity by approximately 45% by 2035 when compared to 2019 levels. In line with those targets, MOL aims to deploy net-zero emissions ocean-going vessels in the 2020s in line with its environmental vision of achieving net-zero GHG emissions by 2050.

Namely, in 2022, MOL plans to deliver the first pure battery tanker, which will be powered by high-capacity lithium-ion batteries. The tanker is scheduled to be used as a bunkering vessel in Tokyo Bay.

The shipping major is also considering the development of a hybrid pure car carrier equipped with a hydrogen fuel cell system and large-capacity batteries.

In the meantime, MOL plans to adopt immediately available fuels such as LNG and biodiesel without waiting for next-generation candidate fuels like ammonia to become available.