Under the partnership announced between Swedish furniture giant IKEA, shipping group CMA CGM, the Port of Rotterdam and non-profit the GoodShipping Program, the first container ship will refuel with the new biofuel on March 19. The container ship will become the first in the world to test a new sustainable marine biofuel next week, in a refuelling event being hailed as a “major step” towards the decarbonisation of ocean freight. The biofuel took three years to develop by GoodFuels, and is made from ‘forest residues’ – waste from paper and pulp production – and waste cooking oil. It is expected to cut CO2 emissions by up to 90 percent and “virtually eliminate” sulphur oxide emissions compared to standard marine fuel, without requiring any modifications to ship engines. Organisers of the biofuel pilot say they hope the move will help demonstrate the scalability of waste-based marine biofuels and spur “development of realistic options to curb greenhouse gas and sulphur oxide emissions from shipping.”

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