Swire Shipping, a leading shipping company in the Asia-Pacific, has switched three of its vessels serving the South Pacific to B24 and B30 second generation biofuel blends. The voluntary move supports Swire Shipping’s long-term sustainability ambitions and will provide more options to customers looking to reduce their emissions.
The three vessels involved in the biofuel programme are Apia Chief and Tonga Chief on the Pacific Weekly Express (PWX) service running direct calls from Southeast Asia to Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, New Caledonia and Fiji, and Kokopo Chief on the East Timor (ETS) service which provides direct service every 10 days between Singapore, Dili, Darwin and Surabaya. The vessels will bunker B24 in Singapore in Q2 2025 en route to the South Pacific, and subsequently transition to B30.
“At Swire Shipping, we are committed to reducing our environmental footprint and contributing to a more sustainable future. The island nations of the South Pacific are particularly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, and this move marks an important step in our ongoing efforts to reduce emissions and support a cleaner, greener shipping industry,” says Swire Shipping Chief Executive Officer, Jeremy Sutton.
The biofuel programme brings together Swire Shipping and its sister company, Argent Energy, a waste-based biofuel producer. The collaboration includes an agreement with BP, a supplier of biofuel in Singapore, to explore new feedstocks of marine fuel.
Argent Energy’s Chief Executive Officer, Louise Calviou, says, “This successful biofuel programme highlights what can be achieved through strong international partnerships, all united by the common goal of decarbonisation. It has been especially rewarding to work alongside our sister company and other partners to accelerate the use of waste-derived biofuels.”
With the launch of its biofuel programme, Swire Shipping will also launch a carbon abatement programme, Voyage to Zero, to help customers decarbonise their supply chains. Participating customers will receive certificates of emission savings, verified by an independent third party, towards the reduction of their Scope 3 emissions.
Chief Sustainability & Energy Transition Officer, Swire Shipping, Susana Germino, says, “Swire Shipping has ambitious voluntary targets for reduction of emissions by 2027. The biofuel programme is a significant milestone in our decarbonisation roadmap, and with Voyage to Zero we are able to offer greater support to customers looking to decarbonise their supply chains. In this first year, the impact of the programme will be comparable to removing 2,700 cars from the road.”
In August 2024, Swire Shipping conducted a successful second generation biofuel B24 trial which allowed the company to test operational readiness to adopt biofuels on its owned vessels for the long term.
