Maersk, which spends $7B annually on fuel for its vessels, is investigating ways to reduce fuel consumption and exploring alternative fuels. It has partnered with two projects focusing on developing lignin, a waste product from paper production, into a viable marine fuel. A separate Danish-funded project is also examining lignin and other biofuels. Maersk hopes these projects can produce a biofuel meeting its criteria in order to reduce emissions and secure a sustainable future fuel supply.

1. March 201322
WorldCargonews CONTAINER INDUSTRY/SHIPPING NEWS
With an annual fuel bill of
US$7B for vessel operations,the
Maersk Group is continually in-
vestigating ways to reduce its
bunker fuel consumption
While greater efficiency is
the primary way of achieving
this aim,Maersk believes that al-
ternative fuels are another.
Two current projects are fo-
cused on realising the marine
fuel potential of one of the
world’s most abundant and sus-
tainable biomass resources -
lignin, a complex organic poly-
mer found in plants that is re-
leased in large quantities as a resi-
due during the paper produc-
tion process.
“Lignin has a variety of in-
dustrial uses already because of
its chemical characteristics, en-
ergy content and its abundance;
yet its potential as a marine die-
sel fuel is a relatively uncharted
area,” said Peter Normark
Sørensen from Maersk OilTrad-
ing, Maersk’s oil buying arm.
In February, Maersk signed
a memorandum of understand-
ing (MOU) with Progression
Industry - a spin-off company
of Eindhoven University of
Technology - to develop a vi-
able marine fuel from lignin that
meets stringent parameters on
price, technical performance,
sustainability and emissions.
Under the agreement,if Pro-
gression can produce a lignin-
based fuel that meets Maersk’s
criteria then Maersk will buy
50,000t of the fuel.
A separate project called
Biomass for the 21st Century is be-
ing co-funded by the Danish
National Advanced Technology
Foundation and involves
Maersk, DONG Energy and
several other companies and aca-
demic institutions.This project
is also looking at lignin and other
sustainable sources of biofuel as
a potential marine fuel.
“If either of these projects is
able to make a biofuel that meets
our requirements that would be
very exciting and could let the
industry and markets focus on
the challenges that would follow
- the scale and logistics required
to make it a commercial alter-
native,” Normark said.
“The great thing about
biofuels is that they would not
only secure a future fuel supply,
they will also greatly reduce our
CO2 and SOx emissions,” said
Jacob Sterling,head of Environ-
ment and CSR at Maersk Line.
DB Schenker Logistics has
launched a new service for high-
quality wine from French produc-
ers designed to shorten the lead
time between wineries and export
platforms and ensure that the sen-
sitive cargo is unaffected by vari-
ations in temperature.
The wine is picked up directly
from the producers and trans-
ported in special insulated-roof
trailers to DB Schenker’s own
heat-insulated freight depots,
where it is stuffed into refriger-
ated containers ready for export.
The express pick-up service will
also be used to export premium
wine via air freight.
For exports to China, Japan,
Korea,Australia and the US,a new
LCL groupage service is also avail-
able,using refrigerated containers.
There are also plans to con-
solidate shipments of wine and
spirits from neighbouring Swit-
zerland, Germany, Spain and
northern Italy. According to DB
Schenker, few freight forwarders
currently operate this kind of
dedicated service for wine.
The wine is monitored dur-
ing transit using options from the
DB SCHENKERsmartbox range.
The premium option enables real-
time tracking via the Internet us-
ing GPS, with parameters such as
temperature, humidity, accelera-
tion force, movement, vibration
and inclination angle continuously
monitored.
Asset tracking and data analytics
specialist GlobeTracker Interna-
tional ApS (GTI) has announced
a full scale test deployment of its
Smart Autonomous Asset Solu-
tion (SAAS) with Icelandic car-
rier Eimskip.
SAAS combines GTI’s Trade
Data Exchange Network (TDEN)
and Smart Autonomous Asset
Network (SAAN) to provide full
container visibility by combining
data from shippers, carriers and
terminals with real time tracking
and monitoring information.
The centrepiece of SAAN is
the Globe Tracker Communica-
tions Unit (Comm Unit), a pro-
prietary tracking and monitoring
system that is permanently
mounted on a container. The
Comm Unit has four communi-
cations radios, including, GPS and
GSM (through a pre-installed
M2M SIM “Connected by
Vodafone”),and can be connected
to a reefer unit via the RS232 plug
and to other sensors to monitor
door status and other conditions.
Don Miller, global sales and
marketing director for Globe
Tracker, said the company has
spent five years refining the
Comm Unit to extend battery life
to five years (based on hourly data
reports) and lower the cost of the
device to a start point of US$275.
Other tracking and reefer control
devices can cost up to US$1000.
The Comm Unit can track a
container autonomously any-
where in the world or be con-
nected to a GTI vessel- or termi-
nal-based network. In order to
facilitate these networks,multiple
infrastructure Comm Units form
a network to cover large areas
wirelessly.These units then report
to central hardware that can man-
age communications with a sys-
tem such as a container terminal
TOS over a Wi-Fi network.
With minimal hardware re-
quired,GlobeTracker claims to be
able to install a complete reefer
monitoring system at a terminal
or on a vessel for around one quar-
ter of the cost of a powerline-
based system.
Eimskip has been closely in-
volved in two previous Globe
Tracker trials during the develop-
ment of the Comm Unit and is
now installing a full showcase that
covers four terminal locations
(two in Iceland and one each in
the Faroe Islands and Denmark),
three vessels, 10 reefer trucks and
250 containers (reefers and dry).
APMTerminals - Cargo Serv-
ice will be part of the showcase and
host the Danish terminal presence.
Using SAAS, Eimskip will
have complete location and tem-
perature information on contain-
ers in its custody.With the addi-
tion of reefer truck units,the ship-
per will have complete supply
chain data from packing to arrival
from a single software platform.
Miller believes Globe Tracker
is now poised for commercial suc-
cess because it has overcome the
biggest challenge in container
tracking - developing an afford-
able business model. Other prod-
ucts have significantly greater
costs,but GlobeTracker says it will
maintain the container-mounted
unit and network for US$1 per
day for the life of the container,
For carriers,however,the big-
gest return on investment will
come from improved asset utili-
sation by leveraging real time lo-
cation data. If carriers could get
just one extra turn from 30% of
their reefer boxes, that would be
enough to pay for the entire sys-
tem,said Miller.
GTI plans to invite its global
partners to a demonstration of the
system in Reykjavik this June.This
will show how data from the ship-
per is gathered through TDEN to
track fresh fish from the factory, as
it is packed into containers,through
the terminal and onto the vessel.
Globe Tracker for Eimskip Maersk considers
alternative fuels
DB Schenker adds
quality wine service
The GTI Comm Unit has been
developed over a five year period
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