During the past year, Meriaura has significantly increased the use of bio-oil in its fleet. This has been made possible by consistent development work over the years, and as a result the biofuel Meriaura’s daughter company VG-EcoFuel produces is uniform in quality and standardized for ship use. VG-EcoFuel has also expanded the collection of raw material from Turku and Helsinki region to other areas in Finland and has tripled the amount of used cooking oils collected from restaurants. With the development work and the increased quantities of raw material, Meriaura is now able to offer more customers the opportunity to transport their products almost carbon-neutrally.
The EcoVoy Contract launched by Meriaura is based on the company’s biofuel compliant vessels. When using the waste-based biofuel produced by VG-EcoFuel, the life cycle emissions of transportation are up to 97.7% lower compared to fossil fuels. EcoVoy customers can use the achieved greenhouse gas emission reductions in their own operations. The auditing company KPMG has just completed an audit according to the ISAE3000 standard, which verifies the balance between the emission savings sold to customers and the use of biofuel.
“Meriaura’s EcoVoy contract is unique in Europe. Unfortunately, vague environmental claims have also been seen on the market, and therefore it is very important for us to make our operations transparent. We wanted an external and independent party to assure the functionality of our EcoVoy concept,” says Meriaura’s CEO Beppe Rosin.
The raw materials of Meriaura’s biofuel are 100% waste-based or recycled, which also makes the fuel ethically sustainable, as there’s no competition against land for food production. A significant part of the raw material comes from used cooking oils. VG-EcoFuel collects oils directly from restaurants and food industry, or the oils can also be recycled through collection points located at wholesalers. The fuel is manufactured at VG-EcoFuel’s production facility in Uusikaupunki. The energy used in production comes from a biogas plant, and both the production process and the fuel have been awarded an international ISCC certificate.
“Waste-based or recycled bio-oil is the most climate-friendly option in sea transport available today. The fuel being of domestic origin increases Finland’s security of supply and self-sufficiency, which in the changed world situation is increasingly important in addition to environmental aspects, Rosin sums up.
For more information please contact
Beppe Rosin, CEO, Meriaura Oy
beppe.rosin@meriaura.fi tel. +358 50 557 4323
