EMEA News
Waterfront Shipping Carries Out Methanol Bunkering Demonstration at Rotterdam
Methanex subsidiary Waterfront Shipping carried out a demonstration of methanol bunkering at Rotterdam on Tuesday, with the aim of showing a shift to the alternative fuel should be feasible from an operational perspective.
The company arranged the bunkering of its chartered ship the Takaroa Sun with methanol from the barge MTS Evidence, operated by TankMatch, the Port of Rotterdam said in a statement on its website on Wednesday.
"Waterfront Shipping has been operating methanol-fuelled ships for over five years now, accumulating over 100,000 combined operating hours—and has been bunkering methanol for its methanol dual-fuelled vessels via cargo shore pipelines near Methanex's production facilities," Paul Hexter, president of Waterfront Shipping, said in the statement.
"When appropriate safety measures are followed, we know that methanol is safe to ship, store, handle and bunker using procedures similar to conventional fuels.
"Today's methanol bunkering demonstration is another step in helping the shipping industry with its journey to reduce emissions."
Waterfront has recently ordered an additional eight methanol-fuelled ships for delivery between 2021 and 2023. Its methanol-fuelled ships currently run on methanol produced from natural gas, with no significant improvement in environmental performance versus conventional bunker fuels, but could use green synthetic or bio-methanol once it becomes commercially available.
