Something is rotten in the state of, not Denmark, but Norway and it’s going to power new-builds from shipping operator Hurtigruten.
This follows after the ocean cruiser and cargo carrier announced it had clinched a deal with fossil-free fuel producer Biokraft to source energy from dead fish and other types of organic waste.
The 7.5 year deal for liquefied biogas (LBG) heralds the latest development in the race for alternate fuels after the International Maritime Organisation announced a sulphur cap of 0.5% – down from 3.5% – from January 1 next year.
From then only fuel derived from liquefied natural gas (LNG), the most expensive option, or fossil fuel with the requisite amount of sulphur, will be allowed to remain in use.
The most popular alternative, however, has proven to be retrofitting existing fleets with exhaust emission scrubber systems whereby pollutants are water-washed out of air-borne emissions.
Norway’s LBG announcement, however, has taken the market by complete surprise and signals a radical left-field deviation for liners looking for alternate, eco-friendly fuel solutions.
What’s more is that LBG is said to be completely compatible with vessels using LNG.
Nevertheless, Hurtigruten has also announced that it has embarked on a new-build program that will see the introduction of several LBG-specific vessels into its fleet.
The first, Roald Amundsen, is expected to take to the seas later this year.
For a company that has been in operation since 1893, serving a national coast line of more than 83 000 kilometres, excluding its service to countries like Canada and Greenland, CEO Daniel Skjeldam remarked that dead fish fuel “is a large and significant move for Hurtigruten”.
