ANL, a subsidiary of the CMA CGM Group, has announced success of the first biofuel trial on a containerised shipping vessel within Oceania.
A concrete partnership enabling the pooling of expertise
The trial, undertaken on ANL’s AAX1 service was a 42-day rotation, commencing in Brisbane, travelling via Southeast Asia and then onto key Australian ports. The international shipping service carries a vast array of consumer goods from cotton, meat, beverages and dairy to machinery, furniture, fashion textiles and ceramics.
Woolworths Group is a key partner on this biofuel trial, looking to invest in new opportunities to lower supply chain emissions across the board. Woolworths Group works with ANL through its supply chain business, Primary Connect, to bring quality household products to Australia and deliver Australian products like breakfast foods, cooking products and snacks to Asia under a range of Woolworths brands.
The trial voyage used a B20 biofuel blend with feedstock supplied by Queensland based EcoTech while BP Marine and Port of Brisbane played a pivotal role in supplying and bunkering the blended fuel. The Queensland Government has also supported the trial through its Biofutures 10-Year Roadmap and Action Plan. The prospect of being able to transport these goods with lower emissions could positively impact tens of thousands of consumers from this one sailing.
Leading Oceania’s container shipping energy transition with a Biofuel Powered Voyage
ANL envisages this blend to be more broadly adopted in Oceania in line with the forthcoming International Maritime Organisation’s GHG Regulations set to launch in 2023. Sustainability is now a strategic priority for more and more of the ANL’s customers, and CMA CGM launched, in November 2020, ACT with CMA CGM+ to meet their needs. ACT with CMA CGM+ offers a complete range of services enabling customers to analyse, reduce and offset the environmental footprint of the shipment of their goods.
Bio-LNG: a new and immediately available solution on the path to Net Zero Carbon
Setting the goal of achieving Net Zero carbon by 2050, ANL (as a part of the CMA CGM Group) is heavily investing in the energy transition. The CMA CGM Group already operates today 27 vessels “e-methane ready” and will have a total of 44 vessels by the end of 2024. Today, the CMA CGM Group is also using biofuel onboard container ships that sail the intra-Europe trades. Biofuel, together with alternative fuels such as LNG and biomethane among others, will make up 10% of the CMA CGM Group’s energy mix by 2023.
Managing Director of ANL Shane Walden says: “This voyage is a crucial step in not only our journey to Net Zero carbon but also the industry and region’s evolution to a cleaner and more sustainable way of working. We’re very grateful to our longstanding client Woolworths Group, as our key partner on the trial. Collaboration for the UN Sustainable Development Goals is certainly key!”
Woolworths Group Director of Transport and Primary Connect, Chris Brooks says: “We’ve already reduced our own emissions by 27 per cent on the path to becoming net carbon positive by 2050, and we want to expand our efforts beyond our own business to make our supply chains greener too. Not only does ANL bring quality household products to Australia for our customers, it also helps us take great Australian Woolworths Group products to the world. This biofuel trial is a first of its kind for our business and we’re optimistic about how we can work with innovative partners like ANL to make each link in the supply chain more sustainable for a better tomorrow.”
Deputy Premier and Minister for State Development Steven Miles welcomed the ship to the Port of Brisbane. “Queensland has the potential to become a leading biofuel refueling station in the western Pacific. The Queensland Government played a key role in partnering with ANL for the trial. Using locally produced biofuel, the project allows ships to make immediate and significant reductions to their emissions, helping to protect marine life, biodiversity and the planet.”
“This is an exciting glimpse into a cleaner future for the shipping industry,” Port of Brisbane CEO Neil Stephens said. “We’re pleased to have worked closely with ANL, EcoTech, and BP Marine to make it happen. Only by working together can we make a genuine difference in reducing emissions and delivering a more sustainable port for the future.”
Led by Rodolphe Saadé, the CMA CGM Group serves more than 420 ports around the world on five continents. Backed by a fleet of 566 vessels, in 2021 the Group transported 22 million TEU (twenty-foot equivalent units) containers. With its subsidiary CEVA Logistics, which transports 474,000 tons of air freight and more than 21 million tons of land freight each year, and its air freight division CMA CGM AIR CARGO, the CMA CGM Group offers a range of shipping, land, air and logistics solutions.
Committed to the energy transition in shipping, and a pioneer in the use of alternative fuels, the CMA CGM Group has set a target to become Net Zero Carbon by 2050.
Present in 160 countries through its network of more than 400 offices and 750 warehouses, the Group employs more than 130,000 people worldwide, including 2,900 in Marseilles where its head office is located.
