NORDEN Lifts Biofuel for First TIme on Chartered Vessel

The biofuel was supplied by Goodfuels. Image Credit: Goodfuels / NORDEN

NORDEN, a long time backer of biofuel bunkers for its owned vessels, this week said it had completed the first biofuel bunkering on one of its chartered vessels.

Together with shipowner Spar Shipping, approximately 1100 tonnes of biofuel was supplied by GoodFuels in Rotterdam to be used on two voyages bound for Asia and Africarespectively.

The vessel that lifted the fuel was not specified.

"At NORDEN, we consider biofuel a key transition fuel on our journey to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050, and we are therefore pleased that a shipowner like Spar Shipping is equally keen to partner with us in accelerating the usage of biofuel in the maritime industry to the benefit of our customers and society at large," said Henrik Røjel, Head of Decarbonisation & Climate Solutions at NORDEN.

While biofuel bunker trials are now commonplace, NORDEN was one of the early adopters of the alternative fuel having conducted sucessful trails using Goodfuel' product as early as 2018.

Nevertheless, Jarle Ellefsen, CEO of Spar Shipping AS, indicated it was still early days for the uptake of biofuel.

"For Spar Shipping AS it is very much a question of being able to facilitate the use of sustainable biofuel onboard the vessels, to gain experience and to push the comfort zone in a deliberate manner," they said.

"It is very much greenfield work, and it is in our interest to participate to create a well-functioning market for sustainable biofuel where both availability and low cost is addressed through economies of scale. What is not affordable is not sustainable either. To this end, we are all influencers these days."