Louis Dreyfus Company Successfully Completes Biofuel Trial in Maritime Transportation

Louis Dreyfus Company B.V. (LDC) today announced the successful completion of a biofuel trial run in collaboration with Wisby Tanker AB, Sweden (Wisby Tanker) on one of LDC's modernized juice vessels, the MV Essayra. The company used a blend of B30 biofuel and marine fuel for the first time to sail from the LDC terminal in Ghent, Belgium, to another company terminal in Santos, Brazil, and return with a full load of unconcentrated orange juice and frozen concentrate. , for a period of 55 days. 

“As part of LDC’s journey to help shape a zero-carbon economy, we are committed to contributing to the decarbonization of the maritime sector through a series of actions and initiatives, including exploring alternative fuel solutions,” says Sébastien Landerretche, Global Head of Freight at LDC. “The result of coordination between LDC’s Carbon, Freight and Juice Solutions Platforms, as well as Wisby Tanker, this first successful trial reflects LDC’s ambition and knowledge in the area, and our collaborative approach to handling the transition energy sector.”

A variety of tests were carried out throughout the vessel's voyage to measure the impact of the B30 biofuel blend on the ship's fuel system and overall performance. The results showed that B30 is a cleaner and more practical substitute for VLSFO (Very Low Sulfur Fuel Oil), reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by around 24%; that is, equivalent to 723 tons of CO2 (tCO2e).

LDC offset the remaining 76% of the voyage's GHG emissions through carbon credits obtained from its Carbon Solutions Platform, making this maritime transport of orange juice the first with neutralized carbon emissions worldwide. To achieve this, LDC chose to use a total of 2.262 tCO2e of third-party certified carbon credits from the Kariba REDD+ Project, which protects more than 785.000 hectares of forests in Zimbabwe, supports local communities and is certified to environmental standards. internationally recognized carbon. 

In addition to this biofuel trial, LDC is working on a variety of decarbonization projects, leveraging technologies such as wind propulsion, solar, batteries and air lubrication systems, with the constant aim of improving vessel efficiency and reducing emissions. carbon from your transport.