Bunker Holding CEO Sees Industry Retaining Key Role in Last-Mile Delivery of Alt Fuels

Demant: last mile delivery. Image Credit: Bunker Holding

Ensuring the last mile of delivery for green fuels will remain the job of the bunker industry, according to the head of the biggest independent marine fuels firm.

And while the shape of the demand for low carbon fuels will, ultimately, be decided elsewhere, the building blocks making up the energy transition are all in place.

"Many of the green fuels are already produced for other industries and shipping is a new market," Bunker Holding chief executive Keld Demant told Ship & Bunker.

Demant put his name to the Joint Commitment statement issued last week by 30 shipping sector leaders at COP28.

In addition to that statement, Demant told Ship & Bunker that when it comes to the energy transition, the most important thing for Bunker Holding "is that the economic instrument can narrow -- if not close -- the price gap between traditional and low carbon fuels".

That economic instrument will most likely be a levy alongside which "the fuel standard needs to be well-to-wake based [to] ensure a gradual phasing in of green fuels."

Bunker Holding would follow customer demand, a demand that is dependent on the political compromise of International Maritime Organization member states.

"That compromise will drive both supply and demand for green fuels," Demant said.

But he added: "Bunker Holding has a key role in connecting the dots between producer and shipowner, ensuring local physical supply and last mile delivery."

According to the IMO's own workplan, member states will agree on a pricing mechanism and a global fuel standard by the end of 2025.