HVO best for the Swedish Maritime Administration

At present, the Swedish Maritime Administration should choose HVO to make its fleet fossil-free. This according to a new report. But it will be expensive - fuel costs increase by SEK 39 million a year.

In April 2020, the Swedish Maritime Administration was commissioned by the government to analyze how the agency's fleet should be made fossil-free.

"For us, it is both about thinking new and working more efficiently. By taking advantage of new technical solutions and changes we can, for example, halve the energy consumption in our fleet until 2045", says Katarina Norén, CEO in a press release.

According to the report, the starting point for the Swedish Maritime Administration should be to reduce the fleet's energy needs through operational and technical energy efficiency measures. This covers everything from speed reductions to an increased use of new technology and changed work routines. A reduced energy requirement in turn facilitates the introduction of alternative propulsion techniques.

The problem is that at present, in addition to the use of biodiesel, there are no ready-made solutions for fossil-free operation for most of the Swedish Maritime Administration's vessels. A thorough conversion with major technical measures is therefore not considered possible. In the long run, several different types of alternative fuels will probably be required to make the fleet fossil-free, but at present HVO (hydrogenated vegetable oils) is considered to be the most suitable alternative for the Swedish Maritime Administration as no conversion of existing engines is required. However, it is expensive, about 2.75 times more expensive than Fuel Oil 01.

"Calculated on a halved energy need where we replace the remaining part with biodiesel, we quickly come up with an additional cost for the entire Swedish Maritime Administration of SEK 45 million a year", says Katarina Norén.

Of the SEK 45 million, SEK 39 million is in additional costs for fuel and SEK 5.5 million in technical measures.

Read the adminstrations report (in Swedish)