Svitzer to convert London and Medway tug fleets to marine biofuel following pilot

In Denmark, Svitzer, leading global towage operator and part of A.P. Moller-Maersk, has announced that after conducting a successful pilot, it will convert its whole fleet of 10 tugs in London and Medway to be powered by marine biofuel.

Replacing marine fuel oil with the carbon neutral biofuel enables Svitzer to offer a new towage solution – Ecotow – to its customers, unlocking about 90% CO2 reduction in Scope 3 emissions from their towage operations. The company is offering Ecotow both directly in London for customers whose vessels require towage services on the Thames, and for global customers by giving them the opportunity to inset fossil-fueled towage elsewhere in their value chain. Svitzer achieves this by calculating the emissions impact of towage operations for Ecotow customers and matching this impact with a volume of biofuel to be delivered to the London-based fleet.

Initially, Svitzer’s five tugs serving the Isle of Grain LNG terminal in the Medway, have been running entirely on Hydrotreated Vegetable Oil (HVO) biofuel since 15 November 2021. The move confirms the operational viability as well as the commercial and environmental value of using biofuel in the towage sector.