Nine vessels from shipowners including Boskalis, Van Oord and Wagenborg Shipping will be used to study the potential of renewable methanol as a marine fuel
Nine vessels from shipowners including Boskalis, Van Oord and Wagenborg Shipping will be used to study the potential of renewable methanol as a marine fuel.
A Dutch consortium, Green Maritime Methanol, has chosen a range of vessels including cargo vessels, ferries, dredgers and coastal support vessels for its research. Studies will determine the cost of installing and using methanol fuel systems compared to low sulphur marine diesel.
The wide range of ships – with lengths of 40-160 m and installed power of 1-12 MW – will give insight into the feasibility of methanol across several ship types and their different operating profiles. The project hopes to determine the most attractive technical, operational and economical configurations for each scenario.
Green Maritime Methanol is supported by TKI Maritiem and the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Policy. A wide range of Dutch shipping-related companies – including shipowners, shipbuilders, engine manufacturers, class societies and research institutions as well as ports and the Dutch navy - are involved. Partners joining recently include the Royal Netherlands Shipowners’ Association and class societies Bureau Veritas and Lloyd’s Register.
The project was launched in March and will run until December 2020. Research institute TNO’s business director maritime and offshore Pieter Boersma said that “partners will look at concrete possibilities to adopt methanol as marine fuel on either newbuilds or conversions of the existing fleet”.
The project runs until December 2020.
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