August 22, 2023 [Engine]- East Port Said is a deep-water port on the Mediterranean Sea and is located at the northern end of the Suez Canal.
Bunkering was conducted by the chemical tanker Lara S, operated by Dutch methanol producer OCI Global under its OCI HyFuels brand. The stem was delivered near the Suez Canal Container Terminal, which is the main operator of SCZONE’s East Port Said port in Egypt.
“This operation is the first of its kind in Egypt, Africa, and the Middle East, as part of Egypt’s strategy to restore its role in ships’ bunkering services, whether with fossil or green fuel and then enhance the benefit from the prime location of its seaports on the Red Sea and the Mediterranean Sea,” said the general authority for the Suez Canal Economic Zone (SCZONE).
As of now, Danish shipping major A.P. Moller-Maersk’s first dual-fuelled methanol feeder ship has been bunkered with 1,000 mt of bio-methanol in South Korea’s Ulsan, 300 mt in Singapore and 500 mt in Egypt.
It will make a final refuelling stop in Rotterdam in the Netherlands, before arriving in Denmark’s capital port of Copenhagen.
OCI Global currently produces bio-methanol at its existing methanol plant in Texas. It is shipped to ports via fossil oil-powered carriers, Bashir Lebada, chief executive of OCI Methanol told ENGINE.
It is expected to lower the vessel’s absolute GHG emissions by 65% on a well-to-wake basis, compared to fossil fuels, Lebada confirmed.
Meanwhile, Maersk has paid $2,500/mt on an energy equivalent for the bio-methanol it bought from OCI HyFuels for the maiden voyage of its methanol-fuelled vessel from Ulsan Port to Copenhagen, chief executive of Singapore-based shipping coalition Global Centre for Maritime Decarbonisation (GCMD), Lynn Loo, said in a social media post.
This cost is at a premium of $1,800-1,900/mt over the price of VLSFO at major global ports and at a premium of $1,600-1,700/mt over the price of LSMGO.
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