One of the leading liner shipping companies Maerks has launched a biofuel project supported by the Dutch Gov. Moller-Maersk set a voluntary target to reduce CO2 emissions by 20 percent per container before 2017 and diversify the fuel supply, the Company statement posted on its website said.
Currently the company is running tests on Maersk Kalmar container ship. Initially, the new composite fuel is based on “crops grown in temperate regions, or reused oils. In the first go, the scope is a fuel blend with 5-7 % biodiesel”, the press release said.
The Biodiesel Project joined five Maersk business units and its partners, Lloyd’s Register – Strategic Research Group, and a consortium of Dutch subcontractors.
Maersk Line officials said the biofuel test might turn out a strategic investment as fossil fuels are likely to become scarcer and more expensive in the decades to come
"At Maersk Maritime Technology we see the development of the technology behind shipping and biofuel as a big and exciting business opportunity," Lasse Kragh Andersen, senior specialist at Maersk Maritime Technology was quoted as saying.