MOL, Trafigura to put up biodiesel fuel supply system

Mitsui OSK Lines (MOL), its wholly-owned company MOL Chemical Tankers (MOLCT), commodity trading company Trafigura, and its vessel fuel supply joint venture company TFG Marine have entered into a memorandum of understanding (MOU) for a joint study on a full-scale supply of biodiesel fuel (BDF) for MOLCT-operated vessels in bunkering ports around the world.

Based on the MOU, the companies will move forward with the study with the intention to establish a global supply of BDF for MOLCT’s operated fleet.

As a part of the joint study, the companies have conducted a sea trial using TFG Marine-supplied BDF on the MOLCT-operated chemical tanker Niseko Galaxy. About 200 tonnes of BDF were bunkered in the Port of Rotterdam in early March, and the sea trial was completed with the vessel reaching its destination off the US Gulf Coast.

MOL said TFG Marine’s BDF supplied for the sea trial required no modifications to the vessel’s diesel engine.

MOL expects that the use of BDF will achieve a 25 to 30 per cent reduction in CO2 emissions on a mix of 30 per cent BDF and 70 per cent conventional heavy fuel oil.