A consortium of Wartsila, GoodFuels Marine, and Boskalis will head a two year pilot programme to accelerate the development of sustainable, scalable and affordable marine biofuels.
The programme’s focus will be on identifying suitable marine biofuels, securing industry certification, and preparing the building blocks for large-scale production. Additionally, the consortium will initiate a global scalability study involving leading ship owners, universities, NGOs, ports, bio-fuel companies and other industry stakeholders. The aim will be to identify tangible opportunities for scaling supply to the world’s commercial shipping fleet.
The consortium will test several next generation bio-fuels made from industrial waste streams, at Wartsila’s laboratory in Vaasa, Finland before ‘sea trials’ are carried out on vessels within Boskalis’ global fleet.
With the objective of developing a fuel mix that is fully sustainable, the programme seeks to promote a reduced carbon footprint of up to 90% versus fossil fuels for the maritime sector. The consortium believes that these bio-fuels will play a viable role in lowering emissions to levels that no other fuel can currently achieve without a capital-intensive fleet renewal or retrofitting.
“Wartsila, together with its customers, is highly committed to continuously finding better, more sustainable marine engine solutions. This is another great example of that commitment, whereby we support pioneering innovations that provide ship operators with greater flexibility and choice about how they can reduce emissions,” says Roger Holm, Senior Vice President, Engines, Wartsila Marine Solutions.
