GCMD-led coalition completes two biofuel supply chain trials

The Global Centre for Maritime Decarbonisation (GCMD) announced today that it has completed trialling two biofuel supply chains, as part of its global biofuel pilot project.

PHOTO: Fuel sampling conducted by a surveyor during the GCMD biofuel pilot project. GCMD

Last July, GCMD announced a global biofuel pilot project initiative. This involved 19 industry partners and 13 vessels ranging from containers, tankers and bulk segments to bunker biofuel blends in Singapore and Rotterdam.

The first phase of the biofuel pilot project was conducted between 31 Oct 2022 and 15 February 2023 in Singapore, involving five vessels that bunkered about 4,700 mt of biofuels derived from Used Cooking Oil Methyl Ester (UCOME).

Two biofuel blends were used, mainly UCOME blended with either VLSFO or HSFO. The UCOME was produced using residue or feedstock labelled “100% waste” and International Sustainability & Carbon Certification (ISCC) certified, GCMD said.

In the first biofuel supply chain, Chevron supplied B24 bio-VLSFO blends – a blend of 76% VLSFO and 24% UCOME - to two vessels owned by French container shipping company CMA CGM and one vessel operated by Singapore-based shipping company Ocean Network Express (ONE). Chevron also supplied two of its vessels with B20 bio-HSFO blends – a blend of 80% HSFO and 20% UCOME.

The second biofuel supply chain involved TotalEnergies Marine Fuels supplying a B24 bio-VLSFO blend to the LPG tanker

Lycaste Peace owned by Japanese shipping firm NYK. These initial runs demonstrate two of the five biofuel supply chains planned for the complete pilot project, GCMD said.

Additionally, biofuels were tracked from their production plants located in different parts of the world to Singapore, where they were later blended and bunkered, GCMD’s chief executive Lynn Loo said. A range of fuel tracing techniques, such as dosing with a physical tracker, fingerprinting, lock and seal methodology along with rigorous laboratory testing and analysis was conducted before the biofuel was bunkered.

Physical trackers are yet to mature, however, fingerprinting and lab testing helped ensure the integrity of the biofuel, Loo asserted. She thinks that the documentation process digitalisation could further boost biofuel bunkering.

The next two biofuel supply chain trials will originate from Rotterdam, while the last trial involves bunkering crude algae oil blends (CAO), Loo added. Through these trials, GCMD aims to establish a framework to support biofuel bunkering.

By Nithin Chandran

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