Shipping
Euronav has ordered two tankers that emit as little CO2 as possible when transporting bitumen, a commodity with a very large CO2 footprint.
Alexander Saverys, who together with his family has owned the Belgian oil shipping company Euronav since the end of last year, has decided to have two tankers built for the transport of asphalt. Once in service, they will be by far the largest of their kind in the world. The loading capacity of 17,000 tons is more than double the average capacity of the approximately 230 tankers currently in service. According to spokeswoman Katrien Hennin, these are very special ships because the asphalt is transported by sea at a temperature of 250 degrees Celsius.
These will be ships that will no longer run on fossil energy, but on green methanol and ammonia. But at the same time as bitumen or asphalt at high temperatures, they will transport an oil load with a very large CO2 footprint. According to spokeswoman Hennin, you cannot ignore the fact that bitumen and asphalt will be needed worldwide for a long time to come. Euronav aims to make transport as green as possible by making the ships greener, she says.
The order is very similar to a large spread. The Saverys family is committed to converting Euronav from an oil shipping company to a diversified shipping company that focuses on ships that sail on green fuels and will also transport such alternatives to fossil oil.
Euronav will not operate the ships itself. The company already has a ten-year rental contract with an “important market player”.(pse)
