The Port of Antwerp is planning to test methanol as a viable marine fuel by converting the apparatus within a port tugboat to use methanol for propulsion as it looks to shift towards decarbonising its operations.
Methatug methanol-powered tuboat. Credit: Port of Antwerp
The "methatug" marks the Port of Antwerps first foray into renewable fuels. Credit: Port of Antwerp
The "methatug" project, as it's known, comes as part of the EU's Fastwater project, and was given Commission approval on May 5.
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At the mouth of the Scheldt river, the port is currently the second largest of its kind in Europe, behind Rotterdam and is the fifth largest bunkering port in the world.
The Port of Antwerp is the second-largest port in Europe.
The Fastwater project looks to explore methanol as a low-carbon alternative to traditional fuels.
Until recently, the use of methanol in marine transportation had been forbidden under the Central Commission for Navigation on the Rhine’s (CCNR) regulations. For this reason, the project was submitted to the CESNI, the EU committee that administers overall standards of inland navigation.
Clearance for its maiden voyage took 18 months and is expected to be operational by 2022.
The methatug's development was funded by the Horizon 2020 scheme.
Besides Port of Antwerp, which is supplying the tugboat, several other partners are involved in this project.
The Belgian engineering company, Multi, carried out the feasibility study for the project while Swedish shipbuilder, Scandinaos, designed the vessel’s modifications.
The Anglo Belgian Corporation (ABC) is responsible for converting the engine and for installing the methanol tanks and pipes, with the German company, Heinzmann, is adapting the injectors.
The Port's CEO Jacques Vandermeiren said the shipping industry needed to search for innovative opportunities to aid the energy transition and look for renewable energy sources to allow operations to continue unphased without the unnecessary environmental impacts.
"The methatug is a further and also an important step in the transition towards a sustainable and CO2-neutral port that has enabled us to overcome a variety of technical and regulatory challenges," he added.
"Thanks to projects such as this, we are paving the way and hope to be an example and a source of inspiration for other ports.”
Vandermeiren said the attempt to switch to more renewable fuel sources forms a comprehensive "greening" programme for the Port of Antwerp's own fleet. The organisation will systematically move to integrate the most environmentally-friendly technologies available, he claims.
Port officials describe the ecosystem of Antwerp as "the ideal testing ground" for projects of this type.
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Benjamin Boyer, the secretary of CESNI revealed the institution were very "enthusiastic about the project.
He said: "It would be a major contribution to the ongoing regulatory work to allow methanol as fuel and then contribute to the energy transition of inland navigation.”
Antwerp is aiming to become a fully-fledged multi-fuel port by 2025, in which both seafaring and inland vessels will be able to bunker, not only traditional fuels, such as oil & gas, but also their low-carbon counterparts such as methanol, hydrogen and electricity.
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