EMEA News
BMW Group Joins UECC in Testing Biofuel Bunkers
Car manufacturer BMW Group has joined UECC in a test of biofuels as a bunker fuel, the companies said Tuesday.
UECC is testing the bio-fuel oil produced by GoodFuels on board its vehicle carrier the M/V Autosky during a three-month trial. BMW will pay its share of the fuel premium for using biofuels rather than conventional bunkers, the companies said in an emailed statement.
The M/V Autosky was first bunkered with the bio-fuel oil on March 16 at Rotterdam, and is currently testing the product on its route between Zeebrugge and Santander.
"We want to support our customers and enable them to make proactive, conscious choices about their cargo transportation," Dan Gent, energy and sustainability manager at UECC, said in the statement.
"BMW Group’s participation to continue our trial on our ro-ro vessel M/V Autosky should therefore signal to the automotive sector that the means to decarbonise are readily available, and that our vessels are equipped to meet this most important of challenges for the shipping industry."
In an interview with Ship & Bunker earlier this year, GoodFuels CEO Dirk Kronemeijer said the company had worked for several years to reduce the cost of biofuels, and that they were now available at a premium of 'small percentages' to conventional bunkers.
