SIMIC

Marcus Hand | Feb 24, 2022

The six-month global trial was kicked-off with the refuelling of the 10,640 teu APL Paris in Singapore on Wednesday. The bunkering operation with the support of the Maritime & Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) conducted alongside simultaneous container loading and discharging operations at PSA Singapore.

The six-month trial will involve up to 32 vessels of between 2,200 – 10,640 teu capacity covering a range of trade lanes including Asia-South America, Asia-Africa, Asia-Oceania, Asia-Mediterranean, North Europe–Oceania and North Europe-North America.

Related: MTM to expand biofuel use after successful trial

Some of these vessels will be fuelled in Singapore with B24 biofuel, which comprises 24% used cooking oil methyl ester (UCOME). Sourced sustainably with waste coking oil CMA CGM said the B24 drop-in fuel could reduce carbon emissions by 21%.

Quah Ley Hoon, Chief Executive of MPA said, “CMA CGM’s global biofuel bunkering trial demonstrates its commitment to clean energy transition in the shipping industry.  As the world’s top bunkering and transhipment hub port, MPA is happy to facilitate APL PARIS biofuel bunkering in Singapore.”

Related: Shipping’s energy transition – the role of biofuels and carbon offsets

CMACGM is already using biofuels on vessels that serve the intra-Europe market.

Stéphane Courquin, Chief Executive Officer of CMA CGM Asia Pacific, said: “This global biofuel trial and bunkering in Singapore advances CMA CGM’s energy transition, paving the way for biofuel to scale up as one of the solutions to decarbonise shipping.

“With the use of biofuels being assessed over multiple key trade lanes and onboard ships of various sizes, we shall gather a comprehensive data set to verify the biofuel’s performance as a marine fuel and gain insights into facilitating a wider adoption of biofuel as a clean fuel.”

The large-scale biofuels trial comes in addition to CMA CGM’s commitment to LNG as a marine fuel, and it will have 44 LNG-powered containerships by 2024 which are also “e-methane ready”.