Ferries to Demonstrate First Green Corridor Operating for a Week on Biogas

Already eco-friendly, the deluxe ferry Viking Glory and her running mate Viking Grace will demonstrate the Baltic green corridor sailing for one week using only biogas (Viking Line)

Published Aug 15, 2024 7:04 PM by The Maritime Executive

 

 

Viking Line, the Baltic ferry operator based in Finland, plans to demonstrate the future Baltic Green Corridor with special operations between Turku, Finland and Stockholm, Sweden later this month. For one week, two of the company’s ferries will operate using only liquified biogas resulting in a 90 percent reduction in harmful greenhouse gas emissions.

“This is a historic moment for us, the Baltic Sea, and maritime transport,” said Viking Line’s Sustainability Manager, Dani Lindberg. “Scheduled service has never before been powered solely by biofuel. We have invested 450 million euros in our climate-smart vessels Viking Grace and Viking Glory, and one of their most important features is that they can run on LNG, biofuel, and future synthetic fuels produced from renewable energy.”

The company is involved in the efforts to develop a green sea corridor in the Baltic targeting the routes between Turku and Stockholm as well as between Helsinki, Finland and Tallinn, Estonia. While these efforts are ongoing and the supply of biogas is yet to be expanded, Viking Line plans to kick off a special celebration for Baltic Sea Day by demonstrating the world’s first green corridor.

From August 29 to September 4, Viking Glory (built in 2022 and 65,000 gross tons) and Viking Grace (built in 2013 and 57,500 gross tons) will only be operating on LBG. The vessels are equipped to run on sustainable fuel and have run on it for limited periods instead of their normal LNG fuel. Viking explains that while biogas is already a part of its fuel mix today, availability and the price put a damper on it currently. According to the company, when it is available it currently costs twice as much as LNG.

The biogas for the special week will be supplied by Gasum. It will be made in Europe entirely of food and agricultural waste and fully certified. The vessels make an approximate 11-hour trip between the two destinations as well as offering passengers the option of a 24-hour cruise. Viking estimates a week of biogas operations will generate about 2,600 fewer tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions. They equate that to the annual average carbon dioxide footprint of 270 Finns.

Viking drew attention a year ago when it began offering passengers and cargo shippers the option of paying a surcharge for their travel to be with biofuel. The base fee for a passenger adds SEK 26 (approximately $2.50) to the fare. Viking reports when it began highlighting the option on its booking system the number of trips using biofuel increased 500 percent.

Viking Line, the Ports of Stockholm, and the Port of Turku signed a Memorandum of Understanding in 2024 formalizing the efforts to launch the green corridor. Efforts will phase in with the goal for the corridor to be 100 percent carbon-neutral by 2035.

Ørsted Pulls Plug on Shipping E-Methanol Fuel Project Citing Slower Demand

The pioneering FlagshipONE project to produce e-methanol was shelved because Orsted said it could not get a satisfactory price for the fuel (Orsted)

Published Aug 15, 2024 2:44 PM by The Maritime Executive

 

Renewable energy giant Ørsted further highlighted the problems in the nascent sustainable fuel market for the shipping industry highlighting that it was unable to secure a contract at a reasonable for the offtake from its pioneering plant. The company surprised investors by reporting today that it has decided to defer the program known as FlagshipONE, which was under construction and due to begin production in 2025.

FlagshipONE was hailed as a game-changer in 2022 when Ørsted acquired the project while it was in the design phase from Swedish e-fuels company Liquid Wind. Expected to produce around 50,000 tonnes annually of e-methanol the project was using wind power in northern Sweden along with biogenic carbon from the nearby forestry industry. It was to use renewable energy and captured biogenic carbon dioxide in production while sharing steam, process water, and cooling water with a nearby plant and returning excess heat from production into the regional heating system.

“The liquid e-fuel market in Europe is developing slower than expected, and we have taken the strategic decision to de-prioritize our efforts within the market and cease the development of FlagshipONE,” Mads Nipper, Group President and CEO of Ørsted announced during the company’s half-yearly results announcement. 

FlagshipONE's construction began in May 2023 with reports saying the company was expected to invest $175 million in the development of the pilot project. They said at the time it would signal a new era in green shipping.

Nipper said the company however was unable to secure long-term contracts for the e-methanol at a “viable price.” Based on this, Ørsted reports it has shut down the project and is taking an impairment charge of over $220 million this quarter related to ceasing execution of FlagshipONE.

“We will continue our focus and development efforts within renewable hydrogen, which is essential for decarbonizing key industries in Europe and closer to our core business,” Nipper told investors.

There continue to be discussions across the shipping industry and regulators about the challenges of developing a supply of sustainable fuels for the industry. One of the big concerns is the anticipated high prices far above traditional fuels with repeated calls for establishing surcharges and funds to help bridge the gap and build demand for the new fuels. Maersk, a strong proponent of methanol, recently admitted continuing challenges and confirmed it was looking at other biofuels and LNG as it moves forward this year with a fleet renewal effort for as many as 50 to 60 ships.

Ørsted’s decision to cease the methanol project comes as the company continues to execute a revised strategy after recording significant charges in 2023 including the ending of two planned large offshore windfarm projects in the U.S. It took further charges this quarter revising the value of the leases but reversed a charge for the Sunrise Wind project in the U.S. which it has decided to move forward after it was successful in its rebid with New York State.

In a further development which Nipped called “frustrating and unsatisfactory,” the company cited further problems in the “early stage” U.S. offshore wind energy market. While saying Ørsted’s portfolio overall is performing well, he said they are now experiencing delays related to Revolution Wind, a 704 MW project that has started construction offshore between Connecticut and Rhode Island.

“Despite encouraging progress on our U.S. offshore wind project Revolution Wind, the construction of the onshore substation for the project has been delayed,” Nipper announced today. “This means that we have pushed the commercial operation date from 2025 into 2026, which led to an impairment.”

The company recorded a nearly $309 million impairment charge due to the delays at Revolution Wind as part of an overall impairment charge of $470 million this quarter for all parts of its business. Reuters quotes Nipper as saying that it is no longer a supply chain problem in the U.SD. wind sector but a specific challenge with substation. He said offshore work at Revolution Wind was “going according to plan.”

Overall, he told investors that Ørsted’s operations are performing well and particularly the earnings from its offshore wind farms. He highlighted that it was maintaining EBITDA guidance for the full year, and increasing earnings expectations for Ørsted’s offshore wind business.

 OPINION

OPINION,

From Papua to Gaza, military occupation leads to climate catastrophe

Environmental destruction is not an unintended side effect, but a primary objective in wars of occupation.

By David Whyte and Samira Homerang Saunders

Published On 13 Aug 202413 Aug 2024

Smoke rises following Israeli strikes, in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip August 8, 2024. [Hatem Khaled /Reuters]

Many in the international community are finally coming to accept that the earth’s ecosystem can no longer bear the weight of military occupation. Most have reached this inevitable conclusion, clearly articulated in the environmental movement’s latest slogan “No Climate Justice on Occupied Land”, in light of the horrors we have witnessed in Gaza since October 7.

While the correlation between military occupation and climate sustainability may be a recent discovery for those living their lives in relative peace and security, people living under occupation, and thus constant threat of military violence, have always known any guided missile strike or aerial bombardment campaign by an occupying military is not only an attack on those being targeted but also their land’s ability to sustain life.

A recent hearing on “State and Environmental Violence in West Papua” under the jurisdiction of the Rome-based Permanent Peoples’ Tribunal (PPT), for example, heard that Indonesia’s military occupation, spanning more than seven decades, has facilitated a “slow genocide” of the Papuan people through not only political repression and violence, but also the gradual decimation of the forest area – one of the largest and most biodiverse on the planet – that sustains them.

West Papua hosts one of the largest copper and gold mines in the world, is the site of a major BP liquefied natural gas (LNG) facility, and is the fastest-expanding area of palm oil and biofuel plantation in Indonesia. All of these industries leave ecological dead zones in their wake, and every single one of them is secured by military occupation.

At the PPT hearing, prominent Papuan lawyer Yan Christian Warinussy spoke of the connection between human suffering in West Papua and the exploitation of the region’s natural resources. Just one week later, he was shot and injured by an unknown assailant. The PPT Secretariat noted that the attack came after the lawyer depicted “the past and current violence committed against the defenceless civil population and the environment in the region”. What happened to Warinussy reinforced yet again the indivisibility of military occupation and environmental violence.

In total, militaries around the world account for almost 5.5 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions annually – more than the aviation and shipping industries combined. Our colleagues at Queen Mary University of London recently concluded that emissions from the first 120 days of this latest round of slaughter in Gaza alone were greater than the annual emissions of 26 individual countries; emissions from rebuilding Gaza will be higher than the annual emissions of over 135 countries, equating them to those of Sweden and Portugal.

But even these shocking statistics fail to shed sufficient light on the deep connection between military violence and environmental violence. War and occupation’s impact on the climate is not merely a side effect or unfortunate consequence. We must not reduce our analysis of what is going on in Gaza, for example, to a dualism of consequences: the killing of people on one side and the effect on “the environment” on the other. In reality, the impact on the people is inseparable from the impact on nature. The genocide in Gaza is also an ecocide – as is almost always the case with military campaigns.

In the Vietnam War, the use of toxic chemicals, including Agent Orange, was part of a deliberate strategy to eliminate any capacity for agricultural production, and thus force the people off their land and into “strategic hamlets”. Forests, used by the Vietcong as cover, were also cut by the US military to reduce the population’s capacity for resistance. The anti-war activist and international lawyer Richard Falk coined the phrase “ecocide” to describe this.

In different ways, this is what all military operations do: they tactically reduce or completely eliminate the capacity of the “enemy” population to live sustainably and to retain autonomy over its own water and food supplies.

Since 2014, the bulldozing of Palestinian homes and other essential infrastructure by the Israeli occupation forces has been complemented by chemical warfare, with herbicides aerially sprayed by the Israeli military destroying entire swaths of arable land in Gaza. In other words, Gaza has been subjected to an “ecocide” strategy almost identical to the one used in Vietnam since long before October 7.

The occupying military force has been working to reduce, and eventually completely eliminate, the Palestinian population’s capacity to live sustainably in Gaza for many years. Since October 7, it has been waging a war to make Gaza completely unliveable

As researchers at Forensic Architecture have concluded, at least 50 percent of farmland and orchards in Gaza are now completely wiped out. Many ancient olive groves have also been destroyed. Fields of crops have been uprooted using tanks, tractors and other vehicles. Widespread aerial bombardment reduced the Gaza Strip’s greenhouse production facilities to rubble. All this was done not by mistake, but in a deliberate effort to leave the land unable to sustain life.

The wholesale destruction of the water supply and sanitation facilities and the ongoing threat of starvation across the Gaza Strip are also not unwanted consequences, but deliberate tactics of war. The Israeli military has weaponised food and water access in its unrelenting assault on the population of Gaza. Of course, none of this is new to Palestinians there, or indeed in the West Bank. Israel has been using these same tactics to sustain its occupation, pressure Palestinians into leaving their lands, and expand its illegal settlement enterprise for many years. Since October 7, it has merely intensified its efforts. It is now working with unprecedented urgency to eradicate the little capacity the occupied Palestinian territory has left in it to sustain Palestinian life.

Just as is the case with the occupation of Papua, environmental destruction is not an unintended side effect but a primary objective of the Israeli occupation of Palestine. The immediate damage military occupation inflicts on the affected population is never separate from the long-term damage it inflicts on the planet. For this reason, it would be a mistake to try and separate the genocide from the ecocide in Gaza, or anywhere else for that matter. Anyone interested in putting an end to human suffering now, and preventing climate catastrophe in the future, should oppose all wars of occupation, and all forms of militarism that help fuel them.

The views expressed in this article are the authors’ own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera’s editorial stance.

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• 
  David Whyte

  Professor of Climate Justice at Queen Mary University of London

  David Whyte is Professor of Climate Justice at Queen Mary University of London and Director of the Centre for Climate Crime and Climate Justice. The Centre hosted a Permanent Peoples’ Tribunal on State and Environmental Violence in West Papua June 27th-29th.”
• 
  Samira Homerang Saunders

  Research officer at the Centre for Climate Crime and Climate Justice, Queen Mary University of London

  Samira Homerang Saunders is research officer at the Centre for Climate Crime and Climate Justice, Queen Mary University of London. The Centre hosted a Permanent Peoples’ Tribunal on State and Environmental Violence in West Papua June 27th-29th.

Upcycling spent coffee grounds by isolating Mannan-rich Holocellulose nanofibers

Yokohama National University

 

image: 

Spent coffee grounds are purified to yield holocellulose, which is then reduced to HCNFs using mechanical nanofibrillation. The HCNFs are 2-3 nm and 0.7-1 mm in length. An AFM (Atomic Force Microscopy) image of the HCNF shows recrystallization of mannan.

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Credit: Noriko Kanai, Graduate School of Information Sciences, Yokohama National University.

Along with all the coffee we drink every day, over 6 million tons of spent coffee grounds are produced annually worldwide. Some of these grounds are reused as biofuel but the rest are disposed of in landfills. Over the last decade, research has focused on how to reuse these grounds. The primary focus has been on the polysaccharides from the cellulose and hemicellulose in the ground up coffee bean’s cell walls. Polysaccharides are used in composites, biopolymers, food packaging, construction materials and cellulose nanofibers (CNFs). CNFs specifically, which are cellulose reduced to nanoparticle size, 3 to 5 nm, have many uses in the food, cosmetic, and coating industries.

Japanese researchers from Yokohama National University pioneered a method that used spent coffee grounds as a new waste material to isolate CNFs using TEMPO-mediated oxidation in 2020. However, that left up to ~40% of the coffee grounds’ hemicellulose unused. So, they turned their attention to holocellulose, the combination of hemicellulose and cellulose, to extract holocellulose nanofibers (HCNFs).

“Chemically unmodified and uniform quality HCNFs from agricultural/food waste are highly desirable for food additives such as emulsifiers. We hypothesized that the high hemicellulose contents in the holocellulose from spent coffee grounds and their unique structure could achieve completed nanofibrillation down to 3–5 nm wide and 1–3 μm long by mechanical disintegration,” said Izuru Kawamura, a professor at the Faculty of Engineering at Yokohama National University. In fact, they not only formed HCNF, but they also discovered a method of preservative-free long-term storage of the HCNF with added benefits for transport and handling, thereby significantly increasing its utility for the food and cosmetic industries.

Their research was published in Carbohydrate Polymer Technologies and Applications on June 25.

To form HCNF out of the spent coffee grounds, the researchers removed lignin and lipids and then reduced the rest of the holocellulose fibrils to the nanoscale via nanofibrillation, the process of disintegrating fibril bundles into nanofibrils. The researchers used a jet mill with ultrahigh water pressure to mechanically nanofibrillate the holocellulose to form the HCNF.

The least degraded hemicellulose left in the spent coffee grounds after roasting is mannan. In the grounds, mannan has been shown to form a network between cellulose fibrils. This association is strong enough that even undergoing chemical treatments may not break it and, in some circumstances, mannan may recrystallize. The presence of mannan was essential in the ease of reconstituting the HCNFs after they had been freeze-dried. Generally during dehydration, the physical properties of nanocellulose change and they lose the ability to redisperse in water. However, when freeze-dried HCNFs were placed in room temperature water, a simple shake caused them to redisperse back into the nanoscale.

“The spent coffee grounds-derived HCNFs were completely nanofibrillated to 2–3 nm wide and 0.7–1 μm long, which was finer in width and shorter in length than general CNFs or HCNFs obtained by mechanical nanofibrillation, and desirable morphologies for food additives,” said Noriko Kanai, assistant professor, Faculty of Environment and Information Sciences, Yokohama National University. Not only did they form finer and shorter HCNFs, but the discovery of the distinctive behavior of the HCNF in its freeze-dried state has many benefits. “The advantages of the once-freeze-dried HCNFs from spent coffee grounds are 1) preservative-free for long-term storage, 2) volume reduction during transportation, and 3) easy handling with only handshaking without solvent change or additional refinement process,” said Kanai.

The research teams next project will move forward with the work they have done with HCNFs. “Dried HCNFs have some advantages for commercial use, such as long-term storage without preservatives and volume reduction for transportation. As a next step, we are exploring the possibility of upcycling spent coffee grounds-derived HCNFs as cosmetic and food additives,” Kawamura said.

Other contributors include Kohei Yamada, Chika Sumida, Miyu Tanzawa, Yuto Ito, Toshiki Saito, Risa Kimura, and Toshiyuki Oyama from the Graduate School of Engineering Science, Yokohama National University; Miwako Saito-Yamazaki from GRACE Co., Ltd, Yokohama; Akira Isogai from the Department of Biomaterial Sciences, Graduate School of Agricultural and Life Sciences, The University of Tokyo.

This work was supported in part by JSPS KAKENHI and JST COI-NEXT program.

##

Yokohama National University (YNU or Yokokoku) is a Japanese national university founded in 1949. YNU provides students with a practical education utilizing the wide expertise of its faculty and facilitates engagement with the global community. YNU’s strength in the academic research of practical application sciences leads to high-impact publications and contributes to international scientific research and the global society. For more information, please see: https://www.ynu.ac.jp/english/

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Journal

Carbohydrate Polymer Technologies and Applications

DOI

10.1016/j.carpta.2024.100539 

Article Title

Mannan-rich Holocellulose nanofibers mechanically isolated from spent coffee grounds: Structure and properties

 

Gasum and Equinor Collaborate on Bio-LNG Operations for OSV

Island Crusader operating under charter to Equinor is pioneering in the use of Bio-LNG (Gasum)

Published Aug 8, 2024 7:46 PM by The Maritime Executive

 

 

Gasum, the Nordic energy company owned by the State of Finland, is collaborating with Equinor on a series of liquefied biomethane (bio-LNG) bunkering operations in the Port of Dusavik, in Stavanger, Norway. The latest bunker, which was carried out in mid-July, expands on the earlier tests in 2021 which made the OSV Island Crusader the first offshore supply vessel operating on the Norwegian shelf running on biofuel.

The first bio-LNG delivery was successfully carried out in mid-July. Gasum reports it will continue to supply the Island Crusader with two to three truckloads of bio-LNG approximately every other week. Each truckload contains about 22 tons of bio-LNG.

Built in 2012 by Vard, the Island Crusader (4,750 dwt) is a pioneer using an innovative LNG hybrid battery technology. The vessel is fueled by pure LNG but also features an 896 kWh battery pack, which further improves its environmental performance. Owned by Island Offshore, it is operating under charter to Equinor to support its offshore operations.

Engine manufacturer Bergen Engines initially conducted tests on land to certify the engines for a switch to biofuel. A pilot project in October 2021 then confirmed that biogas can be used on LNG engines without any modifications.

Gasum highlights that biogas can be used in all the same applications as natural gas, including as a road and maritime transport fuel and as energy for industry. The biogas is a fully renewable and environmentally friendly fuel with life-cycle greenhouse gas emissions that are, on average, 90 percent lower when compared with fossil fuel use. It is produced from waste feedstocks such as biowaste, sewage sludge, manure, and other industrial and agricultural side streams and the by-product of biogas production is also high in nutrient content that can be used in industry and agriculture.

The operation is a pioneering step said Gasum as it works to procure more renewable gas to satisfy the increasing demand for sustainable energy. Gasum’s goal is to offer 7 TWh of renewable gas to its customers yearly by 2027, including biomethane and e-methane. A large portion of this volume relies on establishing long-term partnerships with certified biogas producers throughout Europe. Achieving this goal would mean a combined carbon dioxide reduction of 1.8 million tons per year for Gasum’s customers.

GFI LNG and Pilot LNG Form Joint Venture to Develop Salina Cruz LNG

The Salina Cruz LNG JV will develop, construct and operate an LNG bunkering and transshipment terminal in Salinas del Márquez, Salina Cruz, Oaxaca, Mexico. Strategically located on the Pacific side of the Panama Canal, the project is ideally positioned to

Published Aug 8, 2024 12:29 PM by The Maritime Executive

 

[By: Pilot LNG LLC]

GFI LNG LP (GFI), a diversified energy solutions company, and Pilot LNG LLC (Pilot), a Houston-based clean energy infrastructure developer, today announced that they have formed a partnership to develop, construct, and operate a small-scale LNG terminal in Salina Cruz, Mexico.

At full build-out, the facility is anticipated to produce 600,000 gallons of liquified natural gas (LNG) per day, or roughly 0.34 million metric tonnes per annum (MTPA). The partners anticipate operations to commence in mid-to-late 2027.

With speed-to-market in mind, the project is being designed to include modular, land-based liquefaction equipment and an optimized storage solution. The project will deploy a floating storage unit (FSU) with an estimated capacity ranging from 50,000 – 140,000 m3 to be moored inside the newly expanded breakwater in the Port of Salina Cruz.

Salina Cruz will use domestic Mexican gas supply from the Veracruz gulf region to access new high-value markets along the Pacific Coast. These premium markets include: LNG marine fuel deliveries at the Pacific entry of the Panama Canal and into Southern California (the Ports of Long Beach & Los Angeles), sales into Central American power markets, and trucked volumes in the local region of southwestern Mexico. Salina Cruz customers can expect to benefit from competitively priced, Henry Hub-linked LNG sales.

GFI, a Houston-based energy company, has over 20 years of continuous commodity sales of natural gas, refined products, and electricity into Mexico.

“The infrastructure planned in Salina Cruz will not only provide LNG to growing markets seeking cleaner fuel, but will also bring millions in direct community investment to the region” said Gomez. “We are pleased to be adding the LNG and marine expertise of Pilot to the development team. Thanks to our new partnership with Pilot, we look forward to bringing this facility to Salina Cruz.”

Led by LNG veterans with extensive experience in project development, Pilot aims to deliver LNG to new and existing markets across the world and develop a global portfolio of projects. “With long personal ties to the region, the GFI team is dedicated to helping bring infrastructure development to Salina Cruz and brings a critically necessary understanding and appreciation for the local community and government,” said Jonathan Cook, CEO of Pilot. “We are pleased to be working with GFI to help progress this project.”

GFI and Pilot plan to commence front-end engineering and design development for the project this quarter. The partners anticipate a 12-18 month development and permitting timeline and anticipate announcing a Final Investment Decision (FID) in the second half of 2025.

The products and services herein described in this press release are not endorsed by The Maritime Executive.

Maersk Cautiously Optimistic as It Plans Fleet Renewal Including Bio-LNG

Maersk's newest ship passing the older fleet as the company plans to accelerate its fleet renewal (Maersk)

Published Aug 7, 2024 2:43 PM by The Maritime Executive

  

Maersk provided investors with additional details on its outlook while reporting a better-than-expected second quarter and sounding optimistic while emphasizing continued market uncertainty. After starting 2024 with a cautious note, the second largest container shipper reports higher than expected volumes and rates led it to raise its forecast to an operating profit of between $3 and $5 billion for the year. It made $1.1 billion in the first half of 2024.

 Making the rounds through the major media outlets, CEO Vincent Clerc said the company had been surprised by the resilience of the container market moving from the pandemic to the decline in rates and volume in 2023, and now the disruptions in the Red Sea. He said the second quarter for Maersk was fueled by strong market demand and volume growth across all its segments and stabilization as the market absorbs the ongoing disruptions in the Red Sea region.

Maersk said profitability was building back in its ocean shipping operations largely driven by higher freight rates which helped them to achieve a 5.6 percent margin despite higher operating costs. The added distances of sailing around Africa drove fuel consumption and costs to an all-time high. Shippers Maersk also believes have accelerated their business fearing a range of issues from further disruptions to port congestion due to the impact on schedules. They also pointed to the potential for a trade war between the U.S. and China as the U.S. moves to raise tariffs and the further impact of the U.S. presidential election. 

Moving into the third quarter, Clerc said they would benefit from the full effect of the higher rates. With a significant contract business, he said the full rate impact was yet to come for Maersk.

“Our results this quarter confirm that performance in all our businesses is trending in the right direction. Market demand has been strong, and as we have all seen, the situation in the Red Sea remains entrenched, which leads to continued pressure on global supply chains. These conditions are now expected to continue for the remainder of the year,” said Clerc.

Speak on CNBC he said the company did not see signs of a potential U.S. recession, noting the strong growth in Chinese exports. He predicted that the global container market will grow between 4 and 6 percent up from their earlier force of 2.5 to 4.5 percent growth. However, Maersk is also uncertain if there will be a further rush to move Christmas merchandise or if shippers have already built inventories for the year-end sales. Clerc said he believes freight rates have peaked with the easing of congestion and new capacity into the segment. 

Maersk, unlike many other large carriers, has been slow on new orders with Alphaliner highlighting that five of the top 10 carriers now have larger orderbooks. CMA CGM is forecast by many to be set to surpass Maersk moving into the second position behind MSC Mediterranean Shipping. Maersk has also avoided the rush to the 24,000-plus TEU mega-ships.

Clerc said today however the company is set to accelerate a fleet renewal program. Maersk told investors it is increasing its capital forecast by $1 billion annually to $10 to $11 billion due to its continuous fleet renewal program.

While it is not finalized, the company said it is close to orders for 50 to 60 new containerships. Clerc however emphasized it is a fleet renewal saying the target is to execute with the existing fleet size of 4.1 to 4.3 million TEU. The company plans a renewal pace of 160,000 TEU annually and said it would have orders for 800,000 TEU this year for delivery in 2026 to 2030. They expect to build owned vessels with 300,000 TEU capacity and charter the additional 500,000 TEU of capacity.

The company has been adamant that its strategy for new orders was to only order new, owned vessels that come with a green fuel option. Clerc however admitted today that multiple fuel technologies are likely as the sector moves forward with Maersk saying “The exact split of propulsion technologies will be determined considering the future regulatory framework and green fuel supply.”

Maersk would not rule out orders for LNG-fueled ships and told investors it has commenced the work of securing offtake agreements for liquified bio-methane (bio-LNG). The company said its goal with the renewal program is to increase to 25 percent of its fleet equipped with dual-fuel engines.

Maersk has also raised its 2024 estimate saying it should provide at least $2 billion in free cash flow from its operations. While Clerc confirmed they had withdrawn from the bidding for DB Schenker, he said they continue to actively explore acquisitions for the land side of the business. The strategy remains a diversified logistics company balancing the ocean business with growth in the logistics sectors.
 

 

Largest and Greenest Car Carrier Delivery to Hoegh

With a capacity of 9,100 units, Hoegh Aurora is the largest car carrier build (Hoegh Autoliners)

Published Aug 6, 2024 4:05 PM by The Maritime Executive

 

 

Hoegh Autolines celebrated the naming of the largest car carrier which it is also hails as the most environmentally friendly PCTC ever built. The company has a dozen of the Aurora Class multi-fuel vessels on order from China as part of its drive toward decarbonization.

The new Hoegh Aurora is massive with a capacity of 9,100 units. The vessel is 25,200 dwt with a length overall of 656 feet (199.9 meters). The company highlights a broad range of innovations, including strengthened decks and an enhanced internal ramp system so that the vessel can carry electric vehicles on all 14 decks.

The class has moved rapidly the company says from design to the first unit being launched in under four years. Hoegh has already ordered 12 vessels, including EU funding for the last four to be built for ammonia-fueled propulsion, and the company has options for four more vessels. The entire class is being launched with notations from DNV both for “ammonia ready” and for “methanol ready.”

“With the Aurora Class, we are pioneering efforts to combat pollution in a hard-to-abate segment,” says Andreas Enger, CEO of Hoegh Autoliners. “We are setting new standards for sustainable deep-sea transportation, making a significant stride toward our 2040 net zero emissions goal.”

The first vessel of the class, Hoegh Aurora, was named and christened today at the China Merchants Heavy Industry yard in Jiangsu, China, where two other members of the class have also already been launched. The first vessel will go into service immediately the company reports and they expect delivery of two vessels every six months until the first half of 2027. 

 

The third vessel of the class was floated out a few weeks ago with three more building in dry docks at the yard (Hoegh Autoliners)

 

The first Aurora Class vessels will be running on LNG, biofuel, and low-sulfur oil. They are employing 2-stroke main engines from MAN which will give them the ability to transition to emerging fuel options. They are also being outfitted to use shore power and 1,500 square meters of solar panels on the top deck which will reduce electricity production requirements from the generators by 30 to 35 percent.

Hoegh’s goal with the vessels is to transition to ammonia by 2027. The company reports it will be able to reduce carbon emissions per car transported by up to 58 percent from the current industry average.

The company has committed to powering at least five percent of its deep-sea operations with green ammonia by 2030. The goal is to run its fleet on at least 100,000 metric tons of green ammonia by that same year.

They highlight that a broad partnership was involved in developing these unique vessels. The bridge system was supplied by Kongsberg Maritime, while DNV, DeltaMarin, MAN Energy Systems, MacGregor, TGE Marine, Bank of Communications, HD Huyndai, Glamox, and others also participated in the program.

The introduction of the new vessels comes as the sector rushes to introduce more ships to meet demand. Major companies including CMA CGM and now MSC Mediterranean Shipping have entered the sector for the first time while Chinese car manufacturers have launched their own ships. However, the EU’s efforts to impose massive tariffs on the Chinese EVs could have a major impact on demand.

 

 

ISU studies explore win-win potential of grass-powered energy production

IOWA STATE UNIVERSITY

 

IMAGE: 

AN ANAEROBIC DIGESTER USED BY THE CITY OF AMES' WATER POLLUTION CONTROL FACILITY. ONE OF TWO RECENT FEASIBILITY STUDIES BY AN IOWA STATE UNIVERSITY RESEARCH TEAM EXPLORING USING PRAIRIE GRASS TO MAKE BIOFUELS MODELED AN EXPANDED NETWORK OF ANAEROBIC DIGESTERS IN AMES.

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CREDIT: LISA SCHULTE MOORE

AMES, Iowa – Strategically planting perennial grass throughout corn and soybean fields helps address the unintended environmental consequences of growing the dominant row crops, including soil erosion, fertilizer runoff and greenhouse gas emissions.

But converting portions of farmland back to prairie has to make financial sense for farmers, which is why a research team led by Iowa State University landscape ecologist Lisa Schulte Moore has spent the past six years studying how to efficiently turn harvested grass into lucrative renewable natural gas.

“We’re looking at existing markets where there is already a demand, use existing infrastructure to reduce costs of the energy transition and create wins in multiple categories. We want wins for farmers, wins for businesses, wins for municipalities and wins for society,” said Schulte Moore, professor of natural resource ecology and management and director of the Consortium for Cultivating Human And Naturally reGenerative Enterprises (C-CHANGE). “We can have great conversations about what could be, but unless it benefits everyone along these supply chains, it won’t happen.”

A pair of recently published peer-reviewed articles by Schulte-Moore’s research group modeled the economic feasibility of grass-to-gas production in different settings and from varying perspectives, analysis that helps flesh out the system’s win-win potential. 

“To replace natural gas with resources that revitalize sustainable agriculture, we have to be able to quantify how much energy we can produce and show it can be cost effective and environmentally friendly,” said associate professor of mechanical engineering Mark Mba-Wright, co-author of the studies. 

City-based scenarios

The ongoing research is funded in part by a $10 million federal grant in 2020, another $10 million in federal support in 2022 and about $650,000 from the Walton Family Foundation. The work centers on optimizing and expanding the use of anaerobic digesters. Biogas is released in anaerobic digestion, the natural process of organic matter biodegrading without oxygen. Captured in tank-like digesters, biogas can be processed into a fuel that easily swaps in for petroleum-based natural gas. It also can power electrical generators and produce fertilizer.

In a study published in BioEnergy Research, the Iowa State researchers modeled how a network of digesters in and around Ames could supply the city’s heat and power demands. Livestock manure, biofuel byproducts, food waste and wastewater would join grassy biomass as the feedstock supplies for up to 10 digesters. The locations, size and number of facilities depended on whether the network was designed primarily to produce natural gas or power. 

The analysis found renewable natural gas was the most economically practical focus, with a levelized cost roughly twice the historical average price of traditional natural gas. Incentives supporting clean energy production could provide a boost to make pricing competitive. Regardless, seeing how digester supply chains would work to serve municipal needs helps city leaders envision possibilities, Mba-Wright said. 

“We wanted to consider the seasonality of the supply and demand over a year to give a mayor, for instance, scenarios to look at and strategize around,” he said. 

Researchers have discussed anaerobic digestion with municipal wastewater officials in several cities in Iowa, and generally they’ve been curious, said Schulte Moore, co-director of the Bioeconomy Institute and a 2021 MacArthur Fellow.

“Their immediate need is to provide a service to their customers 24-7. But they work on 15- to 30-year planning horizons, so they’re also thinking about the future,” she said. 

A grass-to-gas road map

A study published in Global Change Biology Bioenergy modeled the economic and environmental impact of two hypothetical digesters processing grassy biomass in the Grand River Basin in northwest Missouri and southwest Iowa.

Over their expected 20-year lifespan, the digesters would produce a combined profit of more than $400 million under the best conditions, based on the researchers’ analysis. The 45 million gigajoules of renewable natural gas created over two decades – equal to about 12.5 billion kilowatt hours – would have a carbon footprint 83% lower than natural gas derived from fossil fuels. Emissions also project to be lower than those from corn-based ethanol or soybean-based biodiesel. 

Most existing anaerobic digesters that produce renewable natural gas have run on dairy manure, so it’s essential to pencil out how they would perform on a grass diet, Mba-Wright said.

“This is dotting our ‘i’s and crossing our ‘t’s to confirm the benefits are what we’d expect. We’re providing a road map to help build infrastructure, which will in turn reduce future costs,” he said. 

The profitable scenarios examined in the study rely on existing carbon credit programs, including the California Low Carbon Fuel Standard and federal Renewable Fuel Standard. The most valuable outcomes also require high-yield grass and prairie restoration on some of the least-productive farmland.

Researchers aimed to be as realistic as possible in both studies, accounting for all known costs – including capital expenses. But they’ll be even more accurate in the coming years, as methods improve and new research results roll in, Schulte Moore said.

“In the future, we will refine our models by plugging in data our research teams have collected right here in Iowa,” she said. 

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JOURNAL

GCB Bioenergy

DOI

10.1111/gcbb.13164 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Data/statistical analysis

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Not applicable

ARTICLE TITLE

Techno-economic and life cycle analysis of renewable natural gas derived from anaerobic digestion of grassy biomass: A US Corn Belt watershed case study,