EMEA News
Dubai's Inland Passenger Vessels to Run on Biofuel
The authorities in Dubai are shifting the fleet of small inland passenger vessels that navigate the city's waterways to run on biofuels.
The Dubai Roads and Transport Authority is setting up a biodiesel refuelling facility for the small vessels -- known as Abras -- that traverse the Dubai Creek, it said in a statement on its website on Sunday.
The station will be ready for use by July, and the move follows a successful trial of biodiesel on some of the vessels. The fuel will be supplied by the Emirates National Oil Company Group, with a government subsidy to bring the price down.
The use of the biodiesel will be optional, but the subsidy will bring the price of the fuel below the level of the conventional diesel currently being used.
148 Abras currently operate on the Dubai Creek, carrying about 13 million passengers per year and currently consuming about 1.1 million liters/year of diesel.
