Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha (‘K’ Line) has announced that marine biofuel was recently supplied to ‘Viking Ocean’, a car carrier it operates, at Yokohama Daikoku C-4 Terminal, a finished-vehicle terminal operated by the ‘K’ Line Group.
This is the first time that ‘K’ Line has supplied biofuel to its operated vessels in Japan. The owner of the vessel is Norwegian based Gram Car Carriers, a long-term partner of ‘K’ Line.
Marine biofuel is considered to offer the potential to become an environmentally friendly alternative fuel. and the FAME (fatty acid methyl ester) component of the marine biofuel will be able to reduce CO2 emissions by about 84% in the well-to-wake (from fuel generation to consumption) process without changing current engine specifications.
This marine biofuel contains 24% of FAME blended with very low sulphur fuel oil (VLSFO) and is expected to reduce the emissions from the voyage of the Viking Ocean by about 190t of CO2. The marine biofuel is made from renewable organic resources, such as biomass which do not use as foodstuff and feed crop.
‘K’ Line has set an interim 2030 target of improving CO2 emissions efficiency by 50% compared with 2008, surpassing the IMO target of a 40% improvement. Its target for 2050 is to achieve net-zero GHG emissions.
Image: ‘Viking Ocean’ being bunkered with marine biofuel (source: ‘K’ Line)
