BHP and NYK Use GoodFuels Biofuel to Progress Decarbonisation Goals

February 05, 2019

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(GoodFuels) BHP, NYK, GoodFuels and BLOC collaborate to progress sustainable biofuel bunkering in Rotterdam, verified with blockchain. -- Today (February 4, 2019) global mining company BHP, Japanese shipping company NYK, leading sustainable biofuel company GoodFuels and BLOC (Blockchain Labs for Open Collaboration) the leading developer of blockchain applications for the maritime industry, announced the successful delivery of sustainable biofuels to the BHP-chartered, NYK-owned bulk carrier Frontier Sky, with CO2 savings verified with BLOC’s blockchain fuels assurance platform.

The advanced biofuel, supplied by GoodFuels via logistics partner Varo Energy, is a ‘drop-in’ marine gasoil (MGO)-equivalent, and was blended with conventional fossil-based MGO in a mix of 30% biofuel to 70% conventional MGO. This delivery saves over 50 tonnes of CO2, equivalent to the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of approximately 125,000 miles driven by car, and sets the stage for further savings, driven by switching to this carbon neutral fuel.

This is an important step in the decarbonisation strategies of both BHP and NYK. NYK was recently recognised as a global leader on corporate climate action by the environmental non-profit organisation CDP, achieving a place on the Climate Change A-List for its climate strategy. NYK’s reduction targets for GHG emissions are 30% per ton-km by 2030 compared with a 2015 base year, and 50% per ton-km by 2050.

BHP works with its customers to help them improve the productivity and environmental performance from the use of its products, and is identifying more strategic relationship opportunities to achieve material emissions reductions. BHP has worked with GoodFuels to explore the use of sustainable, advanced, second generation biofuels for shipping. A vital part of this is the inclusion of solutions to verify chains of custody, and that only sustainably produced biofuels are used in the process and that the origin, emission reductions and fuel quality metrics are traceable and transparent.

This solution was provided by BLOC’s initiative Maritime Blockchain Labs and developed together in a consortium led by BLOC and funded by Lloyd’s Register Foundation. The consortium aims to create an inclusive support system that enhances marine fuel traceability and provides a clear chain of custody for better quality assurance in the bunker fuel supply chain.

Abdes Karimi, Head of Strategy and Planning at BHP said: “We recognise we have a stewardship role, working with our customers, suppliers and others along the value chain to influence emissions reductions across the full life cycle of our products. We fully support moves to decarbonise the freight industry, including implementing IMO2020. Biofuels offer an innovative approach to more sustainable bunker fuel. It’s important for us to ensure the biofuel we use is sustainably produced and traceable. This consortium has invented new ways of working that improve productivity and reliability in the bunker fuel supply chain and enable trustful tracking of both the provenance and carbon savings. It demonstrates an effective model for the whole industry to build on in the future.”

Hiroshi Kawaguchi, general manager of the Dry Bulk Marine Quality Control Group at NYK said: “For shipping to reduce its carbon emissions, we need to ensure that we are exploring how all available technologies can play a part. Using sustainable marine fuel like biofuel unlocks significant emissions savings that, alongside increased efficiency, a reduction in downtime, and increased optimization through hardware innovation and digitalization, move us towards our science-based GHG reduction targets.”

Isabel Welten, Head of Marine, GoodFuels added: “We want to make it as easy as possible for vessels to use biofuels to reduce their footprint. By documenting emissions savings and chains of custody, and combining this with smart incentives to use cleaner fuels, we can build a trusted, financially viable pathway towards zero-carbon shipping.”

Deanna MacDonald, CEO, BLOC, said: “We’re building on an earlier trial undertaken in September and are moving towards validating an important decarbonisation pathway with blockchain technology. We are further testing the prototype in a real world setting to capture the biofuel delivery from BHP, and to create a complete digital audit trail, with extended functionality for biofuels and emissions tracking. This is an important demonstration of how blockchain technology could play a role in creating a global, trusted MRV system, and build the trust necessary for broader adoption of cleaner fuels both in terms of meeting 2020 sulphur cap requirements and the IMO’s 2050 decarbonisation goal.”

About BHP

BHP is among the world’s top producers of major commodities including iron ore, metallurgical coal and copper. BHP also has substantial interests in oil, gas and energy coal. It extracts and processes minerals, oil and gas from its production operations located primarily in Australia and the Americas. Its products are sold worldwide, with sales and marketing led through Singapore and Houston, United States.

With a team of more than 65,000 employees and contractors, BHP prioritises its people’s health and safety and strives to create an environment free from fatalities, injuries and occupational illnesses.

BHP aims to maximise the social and economic benefits of its operations, contributes to economic development and minimises its environmental footprint through innovation, productivity and technology.

BHP has a responsibility to make a positive contribution to sustainable development and has a longstanding commitment to invest one per cent of its pre-tax profits in programs that aim improve the quality of life for people around the world.

About NYK

Nippon Yusen Kabushiki Kaisha (NYK) is one of the world’s leading transportation companies. As a group NYK employs about 37,000 people worldwide. NYK is based in Tokyo and has regional headquarters in London, New York/New Jersey, Singapore, and Shanghai. At the end of March 2018, the NYK Group was operating 797 major ocean vessels, as well as fleets of planes and trucks. The company’s shipping fleet includes 361 bulk carriers, 119 car carriers, 95 containerships, 71 LNG carriers, 65 tankers, 42 wood-chip carriers, one cruise ship, and 42 other ships (including multipurpose and project cargo vessels).

The NYK Group is accelerating growth by focusing on “Digitalization” and “Green”. The company’s new challenge is to make the entire supply chain environmentally sustainable, as well as to gain innovative value from the field of renewable energy, by ideally combining NYK’s core competence with advanced elemental technologies in the market.

About BLOC
Blockchain Labs for Open Collaboration (BLOC), is the leading service provider for digital solutions that bridge the digital and the physical divide and solve for global challenges facing critical infrastructure. BLOC believes in a systemic approach to building technology, that this development cannot be done in isolation and that solutions will be built upon a range of different technologies combined to deliver real-world value.

BLOC’s area of specialisation is in framing problems and connecting the relevant stakeholders across the value chain to develop solutions through collaboratively prototyping and validating blockchain applications to then be accelerated and scaled. To support this process, BLOC provides a range of expert services and solutions, such as technical and non-technical training, expert consulting and advisory, and feasibility studies.

BLOC’s applications are built together with its distributed community of public and private actors, institutions and technology providers that have come together under the collective ambition of solving for the problems that undermine the core of trust and inclusivity in society.

Maritime Blockchain Labs (MBL) is a subsidiary of BLOC, set up to establish an ecosystem within the sector to foster innovation and collaboration between blockchain practitioners and industry actors.

MBL’s first LRF-funded demonstrator, built with a consortium including BIMCO, Heidmar, Bostomar, Precious Shipping Line, International Bunker Industry Association (IBIA) and GoodFuels are focusing on assurance for marine fuels, is now at the stage of real-world testing and scaling in preparation for commercialization, having been recognized as a winner in the Coastal Communities category of the MIT Solve initiative.

About GoodFuels

GoodFuels is a Netherland’s based global pioneer in sustainable marine fuels. The company has created a one-stop shop for marine industry customers integrating the entire supply chain for sustainable marine biofuels. From feedstock to tank, GoodFuels proposition covers elements of sourcing feedstock and ensuring its 100% sustainability, the production and refining, the global distribution, quality assurance and marketing programs with ports, governments and end clients. GoodFuels has its operations RSB certified.

GoodFuels is part of the GoodNRG Group, which is active under various labels and companies in sales, marketing, trading, R&D and production of truly sustainable fuels for the transport segments for which biofuels is one of the best or only viable long-term alternative. GoodFuels has a partnership with Varo Energy on the distribution and development of speciality blending solutions for Low Carbon Marine fuels for the ARA region. READ MORE

BHP, NYK advance sustainable biofuels bunkering to cut carbon emissions (S&P Global)