Mitsui OSK, MOL and TFG Marine to study biofuel supply chain

In Japan, Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, Ltd., its wholly-owned company MOL Chemical Tankers Pte. Ltd., leading commodity trading company Trafigura Pte Ltd., and its vessel fuel supply joint-venture company TFG Marine Pte Ltd, have signed a Memorandum of Understanding this month. The MOU is for a joint study on the full-scale supply of biodiesel fuel (BDF) for MOLCT-operated vessels in bunkering ports around the world. Based on the MOU, the companies will move forward with the study, with the intention to establish a global supply of BDF for MOLCT’s operated fleet.

As a part of the joint study, the companies have conducted a sea trial using TFG Marine-supplied BDF on the MOLCT-operated chemical tanker “Niseko Galaxy”. About 200 metric tons of BDF were bunkered in the Port of Rotterdam, the Netherlands, in early March, with the sea trial completing as the vessel reached its journey off the U.S. Gulf Coast.