The three vessels involved in the biofuel program 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 enroute to the South Pacific, and subsequently transition to B30.
Swire Shipping’s Chief Executive Officer, Jeremy Sutton, said, “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.”
The biofuel program brings together Swire Shipping and its sister company, Argent Energy, a waste-based biofuel producer, achieving synergies within the Swire Group to meet the shared goal of delivering sustainable energy solutions to customers. 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, commented, “This successful biofuel program highlights what can be achieved through strong international partnerships, all united by the common goal of decarbonization. It has been especially rewarding to work alongside our sister company and other partners to accelerate the use of waste derived biofuels. We look forward to continuing our collaborative efforts, with sustainability at the center of all we do.”
With the launch of its biofuel program, Swire Shipping will also launch a carbon abatement program, Voyage to Zero, to help customers decarbonize 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.
“Swire Shipping has ambitious voluntary targets for reduction of emissions by 2027. The biofuel program is a significant milestone in our decarbonization roadmap, and with Voyage to Zero we are able to offer greater support to customers looking to decarbonize their supply chains. In this first year, the impact of the program will be comparable to removing 2,700 cars from the road,” said Susana Germino, Chief Sustainability & Energy Transition Officer, Swire Shipping.
