Short sea shipping company Samskip has extended its commitment to using sustainable biofuels, and estimates that this will save an additional 45,000 tons of CO2 emissions before the end of 2022.
Having signed a recent agreement with supplier GoodFuels, Samskip will now run its Endeavour, Innovator, Hoffell and Skaftafell container ships on marine-grade bio-residual fuels. The proposed drop-in replacement is GoodFuels’ MDF1-100 biofuel, produced entirely from sustainable waste streams from the EU’s Renewable Energy Directive list. Compared with traditionally used fuel oils, GoodFuels’ biofuel has the potential to cut CO2 emissions by 90%.
“Sustainable marine biofuels offer a viable way for Samskip to cut CO2 emissions by 90% so that our ships and freight customers reduce their carbon footprint in the interests of the planet,” said Erik Hofmeester, head of vessel management at Samskip. “It would take the equivalent of 1.7 million trees to offset this amount of CO2 emissions. As part of Samskip’s relationship with GoodFuels, freight owners also become part of a scheme where the lower ocean carbon footprint is auditable as carbon credits in the supply chain.”
The International Maritime Organization (IMO) has set a target to cut greenhouse gas emissions from vessels by 40% by 2030, with a 50% reduction by 2050. However, Samskip has already set a company target of becoming net zero by 2040.
“Verifiable performance is proving to be a key advantage for sustainable marine biofuels as a drop-in replacement for conventional oils,” said Max Verloop, marketing lead at GoodFuels. “Clearly, several solutions are required to decarbonize shipping overall, but biofuels are proving their case on scalability – one of the key challenges facing any low-carbon fuel alternative.”
In June 2022 the IMO’s Marine Environment Protection Committee published a new ‘unified interpretation’, the first acknowledgment that marine biofuels meet the requirements of MARPOL, the International Convention on Marine Pollution.
Negotiations between Samskip and GoodFuels are underway to secure a 2023 supply contract.
