Copersucar签全球首份船用乙醇商业合同，年底前加注七次

From left to right: Giovani Grassi, CEO of CMA GCM Brasil; Flavio Ribeiro, CEO of Bunker One in Latin America; and Tomas Manzano, CEO of Copersucar Rogerio Vieira/Valor Copersucar signed the world’s first commercial contract to supply ethanol to ships Thursday (22), together with fuel trader Bunker One and French shipping company CMA CGM. The agreement covers seven bunkering operations by the end of the year, involving an estimated 10 million liters of anhydrous ethanol. Rural debt renegotiations gain traction, Banco do Brasil says Saudi Arabia suspends poultry imports from Santa Catarina The number of bunkering operations may change depending on vessel availability and routes. Each operation will involve supplying part of a vessel’s fuel tanks, rather than filling the entire vessel. The companies did not disclose the contract value, but Copersucar CEO Tomás Manzano said ethanol can be delivered to ships at a competitive cost compared with fossil fuels, or bunker fuel, when accounting for the cost a shipowner would incur to offset emissions by purchasing carbon credits—or the carbon credits it could sell by reducing its emissions. The use of ethanol in ships has attracted growing interest from the maritime industry over the past year amid regulatory pressure to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from shipping, which accounts for around 2% to 3% of global emissions. Although several alternative fuels are already available, Manzano argues that ethanol is the option that best meets the twin requirements of immediate availability and low carbon intensity. According to the executive, the ethanol supplied by Copersucar has a carbon footprint 75% lower than that of very low sulfur fuel oil (VLSFO), a fossil-based bunker fuel. At current prices, anhydrous ethanol delivered to a vessel at the Port of Santos costs $300 to $400 per tonne more than VLSFO on an equivalent energy basis. However, because fossil fuel generates more emissions, the cost of abatement—the expense of purchasing carbon credits to offset emissions—ranges from $100 to $130 per tonne of carbon. “At this abatement cost, ethanol is on par with fossil fuel,” he said. The calculation assumes that replacing one tonne of bunker fuel with ethanol reduces emissions by three tonnes of carbon. The agreement with Bunker One and CMA CGM was reached three months after an initial trial operation at the Port of Santos, when the three companies loaded a vessel with ethanol to assess operational safety. According to Giovani Grassi, CEO of CMA CGM Brazil, the test showed that “ethanol can be safely and reliably integrated into maritime operations on a commercial scale.” The first of the seven bunkering operations covered by the contract took place last Monday (19), on a container ship with a capacity of 13,000 TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent units). The fuel will be supplied to tri-fuel vessels, which can run on VLSFO, methanol, and ethanol. An estimated 70 to 100 such vessels are currently in service worldwide, with another 300 on order for delivery by 2030. In addition to newbuilds, retrofitting methanol-powered dual-fuel vessels—and even conventional ships—is becoming increasingly viable. In the former case, modifications are simpler and involve only software and fuel injectors. But vessels powered by bunker fuel can also be adapted. “Ships have very long service lives. If a shipowner can retrofit a conventional vessel during a scheduled dry-docking for maintenance, which must take place every five years, it can extend the vessel’s service life without having to build a new ship. At a much lower cost, the owner can switch to a solution that is already available,” said Flavio Ribeiro, CEO of Bunker One LatAm. “A ship is a capital-intensive asset with a long service life. For an operator, flexibility is key to using whichever fuel is most competitive at a given time in terms of cost and carbon intensity,” Manzano added. All bunkering operations under the contract will take place at the Port of Santos, in coordination with Santos Brasil, which operates the Tecon Santos container terminal, and AGEO Terminais, which operates ethanol storage tanks. To deliver ethanol to the ships, Bunker One adapted a barge previously used to transport bunker fuel so that it can now carry ethanol. Manzano said Copersucar expects the agreement to establish a steady supply of ethanol to the maritime transport sector, with a target of 200 million liters for this purpose as early as 2027. To meet that goal, Bunker One is adapting another barge to handle larger volumes of ethanol between the Tecon terminal and vessels. One of Copersucar’s goals for 2027 is to supply ethanol to ships in other countries, including Singapore. “The Port of Singapore handles more cargo in a month than Brazil does in a year,” Ribeiro noted. Another target is to supply ethanol to ships in the United States, where Copersucar markets domestically produced ethanol and has 12 terminals connected to ports.