Oslo, Norway and Amsterdam, Netherlands: 04 July 2024 – United European Car Carriers (UECC) and Titan Clean Fuels (Titan) are collaborating on a series of major liquefied biomethane (LBM) bunkering operations in the Port of Zeebrugge. Titan will bunker ISCC-EU certified mass balanced LBM, also known as bio-LNG, to all of UECC’s LNG dual fuel car carriers this month.
These pure car and truck carriers (PCTCs) will use 100% LBM as part of UECC’s ‘Green Gas Month’, an initiative that supports its wider ‘Sail for Change’ sustainability programme. Three of the ships also feature battery hybrid technology, further enhancing their environmental performance.
Daniel Gent, Energy & Sustainability Manager at UECC, commented: “Through the use of biomethane, ‘Green Gas Month’, and ‘Sail for Change’ more broadly, we are providing our customers with a great springboard to further their own decarbonisation strategies. With progressive automakers focusing on cleaner cars, we expect them to want to reduce their scope three emissions and ship those cars sustainably – which is what we can deliver in collaboration with Titan right now.
Flip Dankelman, Trader at Titan, added: “We are pleased to be working with UECC on these major LBM bunkerings and hope these are the first of many more clean fuel operations with them. The mass balanced LBM via Fluxys’ LNG Terminal in Zeebrugge is a practical, realistic and cost-competitive way to use clean marine fuels today. And the UECC team has valued the flexibility that our fleet of strategically located LNG bunker vessels can offer.”
Unlike other fuel pathways, LBM is frequently being introduced at scale. Depending on the feedstock, LBM can be net-zero GHG emissions or even net-negative if the avoided emissions of waste are taken into account. The next phase is the introduction of e-methane produced using renewable electricity and electrolysis. All of these molecules can be blended at any ratio and used in existing LNG infrastructure without adaptation.
This clean fuel supply agreement and milestone on the LNG pathway is timely as activation of the European Union’s FuelEU Maritime regulation is imminent. The regulation, which will especially incentivise the use of renewable fuels of non-biological origin such as e-methane, will come into force on January 1st, 2025. It will be applicable to vessels over 5000 GT, 100% of emissions will be considered within the EU and 50% of them if one port in the voyage is outside the EU.
