Svitzer’s carbon-neutral towage service to be available to 250+ ship owners and operators

Svitzer, a towage operator and part of A.P. Moller-Maersk, has entered into a partnership with PortsDirect, a company for the structured procurement of discounted rate agreements with port services providers.

Through this partnership, over 250 ship owners and operators using the PortsDirect platform will have the ability to choose Svitzer’s carbon-neutral EcoTow service.

To remind, back in November 2021, Svitzer decided to replace marine fuel oil with carbon-neutral biofuel in its fleet of 10 tugs in London and Medway to offer the EcoTow solution.

The EcoTow fleet operates entirely on hydrogenated vegetable oil (HVO) produced by using waste material such as used cooking oil as feedstocks. This biofuel is said to reduce carbon emissions by 100% on a tan-to-wake basis and 90% on a well-to-wake basis compared to marine diesel.

As explained, by choosing EcoTow, PortDirect’s customers will be able to lower their Scope 3 emissions and improve the sustainability of their supply chain.

Additionally, Svitzer will partner with an independent auditor which will enable the organisation to provide PortsDirect customers with a CO2 savings certificate compliant with regulatory authorities.

Commenting on the partnership, Kenny Bjergstad, managing director of PortsDirect, said: “Our customers recognise the importance of reducing their CO2 emissions and supporting the rest of the industry in meeting shipping’s decarbonisation pathway and targets. The entire supply chain is under scrutiny for where efficiency gains can be made and our partnership with Svitzer provides our customers with the opportunity to address and further improve their Scope 3 emissions within the port environment, improving their sustainability, but also their competitiveness in the eyes of counterparties.”

Sven Lumber, head of EcoTow at Svitzer, added: ” (…) Our … and world-first carbon-neutral towage solution is an obvious fit to be able to offer to PortsDirect’s customers, and we look forward to further collaboration as we work together to reduce the environmental impact of towage and other services in the port ecosystem.”

At the beginning of the year, Denmark-based shortsea operator Unifeeder started using carbon-neutral towage services to boost its decarbonisation goals.

Unifeeder will initially deploy Svitzer’s EcoTow services in London for all vessels which require towage services on the River Thames.

Source: World Maritime News