Toyota Tsusho Performs First Trial in Japan to Supply Biodiesel Fuel to Ships at the Port of Nagoya

(Biofuels Central) Toyota Tsusho performs first trial in Japan to supply biodiesel fuel to ships at the port of Nagoya.

Toyota Tsusho Corporation (“Toyota Tsusho”) announced that Toyotsu Energy Corporation (“Toyotsu Energy”) performed a trial with a tugboat^*1 operated by Sanyo Kaiji Co., Ltd. (“Sanyo Kaiji”)–an affiliate of Nippon Yusen Kabushiki Kaisha (“NYK Line”)–for ship-to-ship bunkering^*2 of marine biodiesel fuel^*3 (“biofuel”) at the Port of Nagoya on April 19, 2022.

This was the first attempt to supply biofuel using ship-to-ship bunkering in Japan.

The biofuel supplied to Sanyo Kaiji’s tugboat was partly derived from waste cooking oil collected from companies in Japan under the Toyota Group and Toyota Tsusho Group through collaboration between Toyota Tsusho and Daiseki Eco.

The Toyota Tsusho Group is focusing on efforts to switch to alternative fuels for ships. Besides performing the first trial of biofuel operation by a marine fuel supply ship (bunker barge) in Singapore in April 2021, the Group also performed a biofuel operation trial for an oceangoing vessel of NYK Line in June 2021.

This time, the Group plans to conduct a continuous biofuel supply trial over a period of approximately three months for tugboats of Sanyo Kaiji at the Port of Nagoya, which handles the largest volume of goods in Japan.

Through this initiative, the Group will verify the effectiveness of using biofuel derived from waste cooking oil for coastal trading vessels.

The Toyota Tsusho Group will continue to contribute toward the transition to a decarbonized society by accelerating businesses contributing to the reduction of GHG through the industrial life cycle and promoting initiatives toward carbon neutrality, so as to pass on a better global environment to the children of the future.

*1 Tugboat
A ship that guides and assists large ships—which cannot move freely with precision in confined areas such as within port limits—by towing with ropes or pushing with its bow to support them in berthing and unberthing safely

*2 Ship-to-ship bunkering
A method of fueling a ship moored at a quay or pier and a ship alongside by a fuel supply ship sideways

*3 Biodiesel fuel (BDF)
BDF is a fuel alternative to light oil obtained by methyl esterification of vegetable oil and fat and is expected to serve as an alternative fuel for petroleum-derived heavy oil and light oil.

The United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) views BDF as carbon neutral throughout its lifecycle because CO₂ is absorbed in the course of growth of plants, from which BDF is made. READ MORE