Danish maritime group to review new, cleaner fuels

Danish maritime group ShippingLab said April 6 it was setting up a global regime for testing and validating new fuel types with the goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions from the shipping industry.

The group welcomed regional shipping stakeholders, including AP Moller-Maersk, in the effort to facilitate the transition to sustainable marine fuels.

Kjeld Dittmann, the chairman at ShippingLab, said cleaner fuels are a necessity for the industry, but putting that into practice has proved to be a challenge.

“The transition to sustainable and climate-neutral fuels for shipping is complex, and a platform that can reduce the uncertainty is of great importance for the potential suppliers of sustainable fuel solutions, but it equally provides the customers with insight and thereby ease the adaption of alternative fuels,” he said.

From January 2020, the shipping industry is obligated to limit the sulphur content on marine fuels. Known as IMO 2020, the mandate pushed shippers to embrace lighter fuels, gas exhaust cleaning systems known as scrubbers or LNG-fueled options.  

ShippingLab said a new platform for testing new fuels will be established as a way to assist with the energy transition.

“The platform will facilitate a number of test and validation services for sustainable fuels in order to ensure that the required information within technical, regulatory, environmental and financial dimensions and demands is available to clarify if a potential sustainable fuel can become a product potentially traded in large volumes within the maritime industry,” it explained.

The new platform enjoys support from the Danish Maritime Fund, which has a budget of around $14mn.