Although shipping is considered to be very conservative, the winds of change are getting noticeable stronger and the pressure to reduce our environmental impact is increasing day by day. Meriaura has throughout its history been a forerunner when it comes to environmental issues and more sustainable shipping. The first experiment with bio oil was made on Meriaura’s tugboat ‘Aura’ as early as in 1992. Climate issues were not a common topic at that time yet.
Launching the Eco-coaster-vessels in 2016 was a logical step in Meriaura’s sustainability policy. ‘Eeva VG’ and ‘Mirva VG’ are designed to cause considerably less environmental impact than conventional dry cargo vessels. When they are operated on our “in house Eco-fuel” they present the most climate and environmentally friendly shipping method available today. Now, in 2019 we have decided to go commercial with this “product”. We named it ‘Meriaura EcoVoy Contract’. The idea is more or less the same that is used by electricity providers: the customer can choose among different origins for the electricity.
In a nutshell it means that we offer our customers an option to sign for low-emission contracts against a small premium. From our part we are committed to source and use at least such amount of EcoFuel that equals to the total consumption for such contracts. We also provide calculations on CO2 reductions achieved by choosing this contract type. Our hope is that such data can be used further in the value-chain and in the end help our customers to create added value for their business or their end-products.
Transports made under Meriaura EcoVoy contract, have 92–96% lower life cycle CO2 -emissions than with fossil fuels. That is quite a remarkable number and I can say with pride that we don’t know another shipping company that can give such a good figure. That is because we use second generation, waste-based biofuel, that our sister company, VG EcoFuel Ltd. is producing in Uusikaupunki, South West Finland. The commodities of VG Marine EcoFuel are completely derived from industrial sidestreams and recycled materials, such as already once utilized vegetable oils, all sourced in the Nordic Region. It is also ethical, because there is no competition against food production. The production is audited by DNV GL and has a sustainability system certificate. And unlike LNG, our EcoFuel has no methane emissions which have even stronger greenhouse effect than CO2.
We announced in August the first commercial contract based on this concept with Stockholm Exergi. They are on their way towards fully CO2 neutral district heat production for Stockholmers and with this transport contract they took another tangible step closer to it. We also want to give the same opportunity for our other clients. At this stage we offer the EcoVoy contracts at favourable terms, as the small surcharge on freight is only derived from the price difference between MGO and VG Marine Eco Fuel. If you got interested, please contact the undersigned. We will be happy to help in making your business more climate friendly.
Wishing you a bright and beautiful autumn!
Beppe Rosin
Managing Director of Meriaura
