A second successful biofuel trial has been completed by Japanese shipping major, Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha (“K” Line), and a third is planned.
“K” Line conducted its most recent trial using Goodfuels biofuel on the supramax bulker, Albion Bay, with the cooperation of the JFE Steel Corporation.
The ship completed loading with hot rolled steel coils at the JFE Steel Corporation West Japan Works on 24 July 2022 and navigated to a a discharge port in Pakistan via a stop-off at Singapore for delivery of biofuel funders on 3 August 2022. The ship “safely arrived” at the discharge port in Pakistan on 16 August 2022.
“Marine biofuel has the potential to become an environmentally friendly alternative fuel generally. Bio-diesel will be able to reduce CO2 by about 80-90% in the well-to-wake (from fuel generation to consumption) process without changing current engine specifications. We conduct this trial by using marine biofuel blended with bio-diesel and fossil fuel,” the company said in a statement.
The Japan-Singapore-Pakistan voyage was the second marine biofuel test; there was an earlier trial involving car carriers in November 2021. “K” Line also revealed that it is planning a further marine biofuel trial, this time using a capesize bulker for the shipment of raw materials to JFE Steel Corporation.
“We aim to contribute the decarbonization of the entire marine transportation in our customer’s supply chain,” the company said in a statement.
It added that it has a 2030 interim target of improving carbon dioxide emission efficiency by 50% over 2008 (surpassing the IMO target of 40% improvement) and, as part of its action plan, will introduce zero-emission fuels such as ammonia and hydrogen, as well as carbon-neutral fuels such as bio-LNG and synthetic fuels.
