PIL conducts bio-VLSFO trial on Singapore to Pakistan voyage

Singapore based shipping firm Pacific International Lines (PIL) thinks biofuel could supplement LNG as a readily available transitional fuel option for vessels.

PHOTO: PIL's container vessel Kota Megah. PIL

The biofuel trial is being conducted on PIL’s container vessel Kota Megah, which called at Singapore yesterday.

PIL will use the trial to explore how much vessel emissions can be reduced by from a technical and commercial stand point.

The biofuel is a blend of fatty acid methyl esters (FAME) and VLSFO, and will be tested on the Kota Megah on PIL’s China-Pakistan route.

"While we have identified LNG, which reduces carbon emissions by around 20%, as the most immediate and pragmatic transitional fuel option for the ships which we recently ordered, we are also looking at similar practical solutions for our existing ships," says PIL’s co-president and executive director Lars Kastrup.